This one is funny for me, and I suspect others are in the same boat. We had the NHL in the last bunch of Olympics as has the NBA, with my assumption is that there is no way the IOC was testing a bunch of doped up NHLers at previous Olympic games.
So my assumption was that I have been watching fully juiced NHLers in previous Olympic games. So no need to ban any Russians and single their hockey players out.
For the other sports, this is not my assumption. For traditional Olympic sports, I have been assuming that what we're watching is not a free for all, but that any doping going on, is low octane, under the radar, conformant with blood passport. Basically not a free for all. My assumption has been that with Russia applying systemic doping in the traditional Olympic sports, this was making the playing field totally skewed. Thus I was/am supportive of Russia being banned from the other sports (and I would prefer if athletes competed as Olympic athletes, not Olympic athletes from Russia).
But for hockey, I don't really care if they call this the Russian team. It feels they are rightfully there on a level playing field with any other hockey team past and present. The entire IOC stance is pretty circular on all of this. Congrats to the Russian hockey team. Bummer for Germany, what a run they had and almost took the win in the 3rd period of game 3. I have not been watching a ton of NHL hockey in the last few years, but enjoyed this Olympic tournament!
So my assumption was that I have been watching fully juiced NHLers in previous Olympic games. So no need to ban any Russians and single their hockey players out.
For the other sports, this is not my assumption. For traditional Olympic sports, I have been assuming that what we're watching is not a free for all, but that any doping going on, is low octane, under the radar, conformant with blood passport. Basically not a free for all. My assumption has been that with Russia applying systemic doping in the traditional Olympic sports, this was making the playing field totally skewed. Thus I was/am supportive of Russia being banned from the other sports (and I would prefer if athletes competed as Olympic athletes, not Olympic athletes from Russia).
But for hockey, I don't really care if they call this the Russian team. It feels they are rightfully there on a level playing field with any other hockey team past and present. The entire IOC stance is pretty circular on all of this. Congrats to the Russian hockey team. Bummer for Germany, what a run they had and almost took the win in the 3rd period of game 3. I have not been watching a ton of NHL hockey in the last few years, but enjoyed this Olympic tournament!