Russians Barred From Rio – What’s Next For The Olympics? – WBUR

Russia’s track athletes are banned from the Rio Olympics. We’ll look at the pushback on sports doping, and the future of the games.

Headlines all over the world last week: Russians banned from the Rio Olympics. The Russian track and field team, banned for systematic Russian doping. It’s a bombshell whose fuse was lit at the Sochi Winter Games.  American and other Olympic-level athletes don’t want to be denied Olympic gold because some are cheating. Today, the International Olympic Committee, weighing in. This hour On Point, sports doping, Rio, and the future of the Olympics. — Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Stephen Wilson, European sports editor for the Associated Press. President of the Olympic Journalists Association. (@stevewilsonap)

Armen Keteyian, correspondent for CBS News’ 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes Sports. (@ArmenKeteyian)

David Howman, director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Wolfgang Maennig, former German Olympian rower. Professor of economics at the University of Hamburg.

From Tom’s Reading List

Associated Press: Russians to go to sports court — “The head of Russia’s Olympic Committee says the country will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the blanket ban on the country’s track and field athletes. Alexander Zhukov says the appeal will be on behalf of athletes ‘who have never violated anti-doping rules.'”

CBS News 60 Minutes: Russia’s Dark Secret — “60 Minutes interviews the couple who revealed their country’s state-sponsored system of doping and learns damning new details about the 2014 Winter Games.”

Financial Times:  Time for Olympics hosts to row back on ambitions — “Perhaps there is a growing sense that the Olympic Games should no longer be regarded as an engine for urban regeneration. Instead, games organisers should see granting host status as a coronation for cities which — independently of the Olympics — have created an urban environment, including transport and sporting facilities, offering citizens an outstanding quality of life.”