Blanket ban of Russians politicizes Olympics

Shame on the International Olympic Committee and their last-minute potential legal recriminations against the entire Russian Olympic team. Less than two weeks before the beginning of the summer games, WADA's Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren presents no details, just insinuation about tests done on athletes from the winter games over two years ago.

Blanket bans are clearly unjust. I guess the IOC and WADA are unaware of, "innocent until proven guilty." Reports suggest that test samples were stolen. That means that WADA was unable to secure evidence, which is certainly no basis to shut down a whole team, perhaps a basis to suspect WADA security practices.

No one wants to read that a drug cheat stood on the podium four years ago. Sports is big business and professional sports of all variety are replete with drug cheats, even here in the US of A.

Penalizing an entire team for incidents that occurred four or eight years ago without specifics makes the entire games suspect, and politicized.

Drug testing needs to be timely and specific for international athletes. Efficient, timely, and thorough testing should be an unseen background for athletes, sportsmanship, and international cooperation.

Paul Showers

Libertyville