The problem with the devil is that he always keeps his side of the deal. For years, Russia has been providing the International Olympic Committee money, venues, high-profile athletes and competitive medal races. In return, the IOC has ignored human rights violations, political assassinations and, by allowing continued participation of Russian athletes in the games, facilitated the continuation of their industrial-scale doping program.
It took invading another country for the IOC to ban Russia from the Olympics. In fact, it was the second invasion in eight years that apparently crossed the line. The IOC statement however offers a caveat. The ban was imposed not because of the invasion but because Russia violated the “Olympic Truce.” This calls for peace over a period from seven days before the Olympics through seven days after the Paralympics. The Paralympics opened Friday and run through March 13. As evidenced by the prior invasions of Syria, Gambia and Georgia over the past 15 years, it is unclear what the repercussions are for the invasion of a sovereign nation outside the mandated window. Additionally, banning a country eight days after the last Olympics and two and a half years before the next Olympiad is impotent.
Three of the last eight Olympics have been hosted by Russia or China. Thomas Bach, the Olympic champion in fencing from 1976 and president of the IOC has said that the IOC “is strictly politically neutral at all times.” However, being apolitical is political. By embracing the governments of China and Russia the IOC is ignoring or condoning these regimes’ disregard for international law.
There is also inconsistency, and political implications, in how their bans are implemented. Prior to the most current censure imposed on February 28, Russia was already serving a two-year ban for doping violations. Athletes from that country competed without a flag and under the moniker of the Russian Olympic Committee. This lack of enforcement became even more laughable when Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, even though the ban stipulated that Russian government officials would not be permitted “to participate in or attend” any events. To circumvent this, Putin attended not as president of Russia, but rather as a personal guest of Chinese President Xi. By allowing these loopholes, the IOC is complicit in political pandering and showcasing.
Equally concerning is the IOC’s handling of Russia’s continued state-sponsored doping program, highlighted during the 2022 Beijing Olympics by the failed drug test of figure skater Kamila Valieva. Acknowledging the discomfort of watching a 15-year-old compete under suspicion, fall repeatedly and then suffer derision from her coach, it was the IOC that got her to that point.
The ruling during the Olympic Games from the Court of Arbitration of Sport that allowed her to continue to compete, despite a positive test for the drug trimetazidine, was because she was a “protected person,” specifically that she was 15 years of age. Although it is true that she is likely not culpable for her use of this performance-enhancing drug, it is also true that if a 15-year-old is allowed to compete in the Olympics, they should be held to the same standard as all other athletes.
I have studied trimetazidine. It has essentially zero clinical utility and therefore is not approved for use in the United States. It is approved in Europe for refractory chest pain in the setting of coronary artery disease after all other medications have failed. As we, and others, have shown, trimetazidine changes the metabolism of the heart so that it can do more with less. There is no reason any athlete, let alone a 15-year-old, needs to take trimetazidine in the absence of a therapeutic use exemption.
The IOC has made deals with Russia, China and others that compromise its objectivity and ability to fulfill its own goal of “building a peaceful and better world.” It is time to reflect on the IOC’s role in promoting political agendas, and failure to hold countries accountable for breaching the Olympic promise of friendship, solidarity and fair play.
John J. Ryan, M.D.
John J. Ryan, M.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Comprehensive Care Center, at the University of Utah.
