So the bear will be left to wander the athletic wilderness this August.

For years, haltingly at first and now with eloquence, some elite athletes have spoken of ridding their sports of doping and the accompanying clouds over grand accomplishment.

Last March in Oslo, I talked with the American biathlete Lowell Bailey. “Are we supposed to just accept that we’re not nearly as clean as we thought?” he said.

He answered his question with a shake of the head: “You want repercussions, some sort of retribution.”