No blanket ban. The governing bodies of each individual sport can decide whether or not their athletes are "clean", so now it's up to the FIG. They haven't made any official decisions yet, but their previous statements about the issue have been against the blanket ban and in support of their gymnasts, so we can expect them to let the Russian gymnasts compete. Like some anon said earlier today, let's drink to that! Будем здоровы!
Other good news: I'm finally back home with my computer and don't have to post out of bad mobile app that takes forever and doesn't even let me do anything. Yay!
Team USA is still at Marta's Death Camp, but the rest of the Big 4 (or what's left of it after Romania self-destructed) is on the move. The Russian team took off for Rio yesterday (or today?) and Team China flew to São Paulo yesterday to begin the final stages of training (unfortunately they had to leave my Chinese favorite, Liu Tingting, home because of an injury). The Brits are being weird, not at all their usual happy self and are instead causing scandals. Secretive and questionable team selections and money management, what even.... The board is now set and the players are taking their starting positions. Let the games begin. The Games. The Olympic Games.
I'm not one of those people who think that London was only yesterday (it was forever ago), but Rio is still here too soon. I'm not ready. And I feel like neither are the Russians. But guess who is ready? Team Brazil. They have been upgrading like crazy and look really, really good. I never thought I'd be a huge fan of Aleksandr Aleksandrov, but you can't deny the results. It's going to be interesting comparing the Russian success in Rio to that of London. Aleksandrov was fired because the team had bad results in London (LOL, sure he was...) and we know that the Rods are going to pass off anything that happens in Rio as good. We'll see how good for the Rodionenkos compare to bad for Aleksandrov. Naturally I wish the best success for the team and want them to do amazing, but I have a nagging feeling that there are going to be disappointments ahead.
I will wait for the official final word from the FIG and then have a very big drink haha. I 90% thought they were going to get off the plane in Brazil and find out they'd all been banned with no chance of appeal. On the positive side, sitting through the beam rotation will be a breeze now compared to the stress of the past week.
ReplyDeleteThe FIG is "establishing the "Pool of Russian eligible athletes"" as we speak, so if they're fast, you might get a perfect excuse to drink on a weekday! :D
DeleteThat must have been a hell of a flight thought. It's like waiting whether or not you're going to crash upon landing.