The US Mixed Doubles Curling Team, Matt and Becca Hamilton, played (is it played? slid? curled?) their first match (game? contest? boulder bumper car?) against OAR. When I checked the schedule, I saw that the US was boulder bumper carring against OAR and was immediately confused. What is OAR? Did someone make a typo with Qatar? Does Qatar have a curling team? Is this some weird way of saying U.A.E.? Is the U.A.E. at the Winter Olympics? (These thoughts actually went through my head. What a stupid I am.)
As I finally figured out, and I am sure everyone knows by now, OAR stands for Olympic Athletes from Russia. Russia has been banned from the Winter Olympics for systematic doping violations. However, individual Russian athletes who have not been, I guess caught, doping are allowed to compete. They just can't represent Mother Russia. If they win a medal, the Olympic flag will fly. If they win gold, the Olympic Anthem will be played during the Olympic Ceremony. I admire the IOC taking a stand here, but is it possible this is just a way for "The Olympics" to get a little more publicity for themselves? There are a lot of OAR athletes, several of whom are going to medal. It is only the second full day of competition and I have already seen the Olympic Flag more times than in every other Olympics combined. There are also more oars than at your average crew regatta.
Oh, come on! No bad Dad puns. OK.
If you do a Google search for "Russian doping scandal" you will get approximately 550,000 results. The stories cover the Russian athletes who have lost medals in the past, athletes who are banned from 2018 and lost their appeals to get to compete, stories about athletes who are allowed to compete this year, and literally thousands of other stories. A lot of this stems from the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where Russia engaged in a cover up of doping so sophisticated they took some techniques from mice.
Doping is pretty clearly the biggest scandal in Olympic sports. It is an issue that has grown over the past 40+ years. If you are my age, or around my age, the first big story was Ben Johnson in 1988. However, this is a story that has been around for much longer. It is also a story that shows no sign of going away. As long as people can make lots of money playing a sport rather than sitting at a desk, some of them are going to be motivated by ANYTHING that will keep them out of some office.
The Russians, however, seem to be taking it to a new level, or at least back to the level of the East Germans. Some of those stories found in a simple Google search say that, once you prove you have world class ability in Russia, you have the choice of doping or quitting. This is one of the reasons many are saying the sanctions against Russia are not sufficient. When you have a country using their position as hosts to sneak samples through holes in the wall, it is kind of hard to argue against these people.
Sadly, I am an idealist. I like to think my heroes, whether they are swimming incredible times in the pool, flipping on snow, or participating in my beloved biathlon, are clean. If Katie Ledecky, Michael Phelps or Caeleb Dressel are caught doping, I will be devastated, much as I was by Lance Armstrong. It is hard to believe that Maame Biney is a doper. Same for Bradie Tennel. However, even in my idealistic mind, it is hard to ignore the facts. If all (or almost all) the Russians are doping, it is hard to believe no one else is. If everyone is doping, it is hard to believe someone dominating everyone is clean. Hopefully, it is just the Russians, and not all of them. Hopefully my heroes, and the athletes we are all enjoying in the Winter and Summer Olympics, are, for the most part clean. We will never really know. And, for me, maybe that is best.
Reflections on What Has Happened
1. The U.S. finished Day 1 without a medal for the first time since
1998. On Day 2, we went for history. Red Gerard nailed his final
Slopestyle run to become the youngest Snowboard gold medalist in
Olympic history (not that Snowboard has a long history). Then Chris Mazdzer won the first Men's Single Luge medal in US history, with a silver.
2. The Luge competition was a fascinating wave of emotions. Germany's Felix Loch, the favorite coming in and leader going into the 4th round, made a big mistake, resulting in ecstatic cheering and hugging from both the Austrians (who won gold) and the Americans. In a way, there were a bunch of people celebrating Felix's failure, just a few feet away from him as he sat on his sled looking miserable.
3. Lots of inter-country love between the Americans and Austrians.
4. Biathlon under the lights is just plain awesome. But my prediction of a historic US medal in biathlon does not look good after the first weekend.
5. Tara Lipinski tried to solidify the award for greatest commentator jinx on the first night. She made a valiant effort, but failed. In the Men's Biathlon 10K Sprints France's Martin Fourcade approached the shooting range for the first time, Steve Schlanger said Fourcade is the best shooter "in the history of the sport". He proceeded to miss 3 of 5 shots. If he missed 2, he probably would have won gold. Well played, Steve. Well played.
6. The cold in South Korea is causing problems. In Sochi, the warmth caused crashes. In Pyeongchang, the cold is making things faster, causing crashes or at least mistakes. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
7. Big fan of the Team Figure Skating and the allowance of real music.
Predictions Recap
1. Mikaela Shiffrin will be the US Darling of these Olympics (as she rightly should be). - Pending
2. Nathan Chen will nail his short program in the Men's Competition. - Pending
3. The US breaks through with a biathlon medal. Any biathlon medal will do. - Pending
Predictions
1. Medal for Mikaela in Giant Slalom.
2. Bronze for US in Team Figure Skating.
3. Many people will violate Rule #1 on Wednesday.
4. Schlanger holds onto the Broadcaster jinx award for 2018.
What to Watch For
1. CAA Swimming Championships begin on Wednesday.
2. Women's Slopestyle.
3. Team Figure Skating.
4. At some point, I will figure the schedule out.
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