What does Russia’s ban from Olympics mean for India?

In a landmark move, on Thursday, Russia was banned from using its name, flag and anthem at the next two Olympic Games or at any world championships for the next two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The ruling also means that Russia will not be allowed to bid to host any major sporting events for two years.

The ban, which was supposed to be implemented for state-sponsored doping offences, was actually supposed to be for four years (considering world events) — at least the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had proposed a four-year ban.

WADA’s proposed ban came after it discovered that Russian authorities had deliberately erased and manipulated doping data stored in a Moscow laboratory. This was done to stop its athletes from being punished for taking banned drugs. Russia, of course, immediately challenged the ban and recruited several top sports lawyers and sporting bodies to back its case.

Thursday’s decision — a small win for Russia — saw the proposed ban duration halved, much to the surprise of several athletes.

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1339577737262993410

Now what does this mean for India and other countries who will take part in the subsequent Olympic Games and world meets? Does this mean that Indian athletes will get an advantage in certain sports where the Russians usually dominate?

To answer this simply, no.

Because Russian athletes and teams will still be allowed to compete at next year's Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, as well as world championships including the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, provided they were not implicated in doping or covering up positive tests.

These athletes can participate under the team name "Russia" on uniforms if the words "Neutral Athlete" or "Neutral Team" have equal prominence, the court said on Thursday. As such, they will still be able to compete for medals and maybe, even win some although it won’t count as Russia’s medals in history books.

While many criticised the decision, in a statement, CAS denied it had been lenient on Russia, and said it had “considered matters of proportionality and, in particular, the need to effect cultural change and encourage the next generation of Russian athletes to participate in clean international sport”.