Did you think that by performing well at the Tokyo Olympics and passing the most brutal doping controls, Russian athletes had solved all their problems? Alas, no. It seems the problems for our sport have only just begun
American congressmen have rolled out a new bill that makes even the surreal “Rodchenkov Act” look like a flower. “The Golden Act, a creation of the U.S. Congressional Helsinki Commission, proposes making doping violations equal to serious criminal offenses – money laundering and racketeering.
If enacted, the law would extend its reach around the world. Intelligence agencies would be on the lookout for doping rings at any international sporting event with at least one US athlete, sponsored by at least one US firm, or broadcast by at least one US television station.
The package of laws against money laundering and racketeering (RICO) was adopted in the states in 1970 to fight the mafia. It provides that suspects of these crimes may be wiretapped, monitored, and the wiretap material may be used in court. RICO was used to land the godfathers of New York and the corrupt cops of Los Angeles and Key West on the dock. Many of them are still reeling from their “huge sentences”.
“The Golden Act” – like the Rodchenkov Act – is entirely extraterritorial. It assumes that US intelligence agencies around the world will hunt down citizens of other countries. Monitor them, wiretap them, request their arrest and extradition to the US, block their bank accounts. They will also conduct some mysterious “special operations”. Here we do not even want to speculate what our American partners have in mind.
No one is hiding exactly against whom this law is directed. “For authoritarian countries like Russia, doping remains an asymmetrical weapon with which it breaks the law,” said Joe Wilson, co-author of the Golden Act and a member of the Helsinki Commission.
Congressman Steve Cohen, co-chair of the Helsinki Commission, explained that the need for the bill was proved by complaints from US athletes at the Tokyo Olympics. “Our athletes suspect that doping continues to be used”, – Cohen said.
It’s a clear reference to the whining of American swimmer Ryan Murphy, from whom our Evgeny Rylov snatched gold in the 200m backstroke.
“Well, I don’t know if it was 100 per cent clear here,” the loser said in Tokyo. Then his teammate Lily King began to speak on the same subject. “There are a lot of people here (at the Olympics) that shouldn’t be here”, – she said.
The absurdity of the situation is off the charts. Both WADA and IOC have repeatedly confirmed that no banned substances were found in Russian winners. They just fought and won fairly. But the Americans, who have lost, cannot accept this, and so they are calling in their security forces to help, and it is a good thing they are not the army yet.
Why not just hand out Olympic medals at the State Department – exclusively to American citizens, of course? Or mount a fully escorted aircraft carrier to the coastal border of the country hosting some championship? To keep a watchful eye on whether American athletes are being hurt. Like who won the sixth lane? The Russian? Are you sure? Nah… You better count it.
What makes this insanity all the more heated, is that all recent serious doping scandals involve American athletes. Runner Sha’Curry Richardson was just suspended for marijuana. Gymnast Simone Biles couldn’t compete in the Olympics because she wasn’t given Ritalin. Three years ago, legendary swimmer, multiple Olympic and world champion Ryan Lochte was disqualified for doping. And remember the famous cyclist Lance Armstrong, who spent his entire career on corticosteroids?
These are just the most high-profile scandals. But the international community does not know what goes on in professional sports in the United States, for example. These are the world-famous National Basketball League, Baseball League, and Hockey League. Thousands of famous athletes, trillions of dollars worth of business, iconic competitions. And all this blossoming complexity, the USADA’s anti-doping committee has no control whatsoever.
Each league has its own organization, which seems to monitor the use of doping, but there is so much money that no one catches anyone on banned substances. It is more expensive for themselves. In 2012 WADA Director-General David Howman publicly criticized the NBA (National Basketball Association) for “lapses” in doping controls. He even suggested that legendary basketball players should be tested for growth hormone. But all of them gloriously ignored the idea.
As far as state support for doping is concerned, the problems of American athletes are well known at the very top in the United States. These are exactly systemic processes, and they only worsen from generation to generation, crippling tens of thousands of children and young people. And no, this is not Russian propaganda speculation. Let’s hear from the President of the United States.
“American athletes at all levels – professional, amateur, and those representing university sports <…> – all of them cannot resist the temptation to use steroids or other banned substances <…> The pressure is especially great at the highest level, where you have to secure a spot on the team <…> because you come into the locker room and see an opponent who has gained 20 pounds muscle mass, and you think: hey, wait a minute, I have to do that too, otherwise he’ll get my spot on the national team <…> It’s a gigantic problem…”.
That’s a quote from Joe Biden – in 2008, he was a US senator from Delaware, and he spoke with such temperament in front of his colleagues, urging them to ratify the International Convention on Anti-Doping.
It is clear that the US authorities are fully aware of what is going on in American sport. But for some reason, they want to catch anti-doping law breakers in Russia. Kafka rests.
Victoria Nikiforova, RIA