This astonishingly brazen cheating got Russia banned from the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. Well, sort of. Dozens of Russian athletes were still allowed to compete under a cloud of suspicion, as they did in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. International officials reinstated the Russian Olympic Committee days after the PyeongChang Games ended.

AD

AD

Now, following a vote this past Thursday, the country’s drug-testing program is back, despite the fact that Russian officials refused to submit to two key requirements. First, they declined to accept guilt for state-sponsored doping, embracing only the conclusions of a report that did not detail the full scale of Russian state involvement. Apparently, in the topsy-turvy logic of international sports bureaucrats, nothing says remorse like denial.

Second, the Russians still have not given world anti-doping authorities access to their infamous Moscow laboratory. Instead, Russian authorities have reportedly promised to provide testing data and samples to WADA on a certain timeline. WADA officials insist that if the Russians fail to hand over the information they want, the Russian drug-testing agency will be banned once again. This is no replacement for total and immediate access to the site, its samples and its data. And, given WADA’s conciliatory attitude, Russian authorities have reason to conclude that they would ultimately face less severe consequences if their disclosure is manipulated, incomplete or improperly delayed.

Athletes across the globe, including the chairman of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, are dismayed at WADA’s capitulation. And they should be. So should honest Russian athletes, whose performances will be tainted by their government’s doping conspiracy and lack of contrition. Given that the United States is the single largest contributor to WADA, giving $2.3 million annually, Congress should also consider options to crack down on cheaters, such as slapping criminal penalties on those involved in international sports doping.

AD

AD

If and when Russian athletes are once again caught cheating, it will reflect not only on a single corrupt government but also on the global sports authorities who are now complicit in letting Russian authorities escape full accountability.