After years of training, sweat and tears, an athlete can’t help but dream of making it to the world’s most prestigious competition: Olympics. Unfortunately, when it came to participating in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics this year, some athletes were forced to give up on that dream.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) serves as the Olympics’ watchdog. It connects the Olympic organizations and maintains the order. This year, the IOC was forced to make a decision regarding the recent Russian doping scandal that erupted with the allegations of Russian whistleblower, Yuliya Stepanova.
In light of the scandal, which revealed a pattern of drug use to achieve better results in sporting events, Russian athletes were barred from joining the Paralympics, a sporting event that allows men and women with disabilities to compete. According to CNN, 118 out of 389 Russian athletes that made it to the Olympics in Rio were also expelled.
While some expected that the entire country would be banned from participating, the IOC felt it was unfair to punish the clean athletes for the poor decisions of others.
Kuwait also did not participate in the 2016 Olympics. The Guardian explains that the IOC has strict rules stating that a government cannot interfere in the Olympics. When Kuwait legislation appeared to threaten the autonomy of the IOC, the committee issued Kuwait a warning ahead of time, giving them the deadline of October 27, 2015 to make the needed changes in legislation. However, the deadline was not met and in turn, Kuwait was disqualified from participating.
Mohammed Madouh, a Kuwaiti swimmer, was one of the victims of his country’s ban from competing. In a Washington Post article, Madouh said, “Everything got obscured now. And nothing can be imagined the same now. When you have the suspension, all your dreams and visions and scenes are just clouded and dark.”
In the past, other countries that have been banned from participating included Germany, Japan, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Sport24 explained that many of these exclusions were due to political issues, for example Germany’s part in the Second World War.
When a country is not able to participate peacefully and leave its government out of the athletes’ way, problems arise. Unfortunately, a country’s stubbornness often means that the athletes end up paying the price – missing their opportunity of a lifetime.
