Let the Games begin

We are just days away from the start of the 2016 Olympic Games and it is time we switch our attention towards the athletes and their sporting performances. The past few weeks have been disheartening to watch as the Russian doping scandal has continued to unravel, news of athletes withdrawing due to the Zika virus has trickled on and other horror stories do not stop coming from Rio such high profile abductions as well as the continued high crime rate.

Ahead of every Olympic Games the media pump out the negative stories. Thankfully in the past this has been swept away on the bang of the starters gun with the attention dramatically switching to the sport and the positive stories surrounding the Games. I have a bad feeling it might take a few days for the momentum to build and take us away from the negative cloud that has been hanging over Rio De Janeiro.

The news of individual governing bodies banning Russian athletes in the light of the McClaren report have been trickling in. Modern Pentathlon chose to remove two of the male Russian athletes including one reserve due to the recent findings. It has become evident though that the IOC have handled this whole situation with a serious lack of forward planning and thought for those innocent athletes involved. The setting up of a new three person panel to override the International Federations decision’s just days ahead of the opening ceremony is the icing on this distasteful cake. I can not for one minute imagine arriving in Rio as an athlete preparing to represent your Country in the largest competition of your whole sporting career to only then be told to pack your bags and head home. I have experienced de-selection shortly before boarding a flight and it was heart braking, I can not comprehend the effects of these IOC decisions.

Athlete focused

I made it safely back across the Irish sea after a refreshing few days travelling north through Ireland. It was onwards and upwards as I continued my journey beyond Dundee to attend a Scottish wedding. Bagpipes and ceilidh dancing kept it traditional, the only surprise was the warm and clement weather.

The lack of phone reception combined with an action packed social few days has been wonderfully refreshing. It is however rather shocking when catching up with the news, it seems that if you blink another depressing news story will have broken. As I have mentioned previously it is times like these that we rely on sport to unite and distract us from the problems our world is facing. Sadly it is sport that is adding to those disheartening headlines, I am referring the continued allegations and subsequent decisions regarding the Russian doping situation.

At the time of writing the world of sport is up in arms following the decision by the IOC not to ban all Russian athletes, across the twenty eight Olympic sports, from competing in Rio. The track and field athletes who train in Russia will not be on the start line at this summer’s Olympics however the decision has been passed on to the individual international federations. The president of the IOC Thomas Bach, has passed the buck to the other twenty seven sports who now have the pressured and difficult decision to make, should they allow the Russians to compete? I wait with baited breath to hear the outcome for Modern Pentathlon, the time is now incredibly tight as a ban on Russia will result in four more athletes being invited to compete at the Games at such a short notice. The whole predicament is tough on the athletes, they need to trust they are competing on a clean and fair playing field. How is that going to be possible with Russia on that start line?