IOC – mackaycartoons

Tuesday February 27, 2018

February 26, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 27, 2018

Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 2018: ‘the Games of new horizons’?

Moments before the XXIII Winter Games ended amid a furious barrage of K-pop and firecrackers, the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, insisted: “We have seen here how sport can make the world a better place … these are the Games of new horizons.”

July 21, 2016

Watching athletes from North and South Korea strolling happily together, for once separated by centimetres rather than 73 years’ antipathy, it was entirely possible to be swept along by waves of sentiment and hope.

Yet another image of Bach, from earlier in the day, was also hard to shake: one of the IOC president despondently confirming that Russian athletes would not march under their own flag at Sunday’s closing ceremony, because of two doping violations at these Games.

Especially as, with his very next breath, he also promised that the Russian Olympic Committee’s suspension would be lifted very soon if there were no more positive tests. That suspension was imposed on 5 December and will have probably lasted less than 100 days when it is lifted.

August 19, 2004

As a response to the most audacious state-sponsored doping programme in history, it counts as barely a slap on the wrist – even when a $15m fine, being forced to call themselves “Olympic Athletes from Russia”, and a ban on the Russian flag and anthem in Pyeongchang is tacked on.

A closing ceremony that began with the crowd of 35,000 people counting down together to say “one” as the athletes entered the stadium ended with the Russians close to being officially readmitted to the Olympic fold.

September 9, 2000

On the final day of competition, the Olympic Athletes from Russia won their second gold of the Games, in the men’s ice hockey. But it only inched them up to 13th in the medal table – a far cry from their first place in Sochi when their athletes were fuelled by a cocktail of steroids as well as patriotic fervour.

The next Winter Olympic games will be in Beijing in 2022. (Source: The Guardian)

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Friday February 9, 2018

February 8, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 9, 2018

What is OAR and why are Russia not in PyeongChang 2018?

RUSSIA will be represented at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang but their flag will not fly and their athletes will have OAR – not RUS – after their names.

The Russian doping scandal first emerged from the McLaren Report, an independent report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren that identified more than 1,000 Russian competitors who had befitted from a state-sponsored cover-up of athletes who were using performance enhancing drugs.

The first part of the report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was released in July 2016 but many sports still allowed Russians to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

However, the second part of the report which was published later in 2016 triggered a massive number of International Olympic Committee (IOC) investigations into Russian athletes and the Russian Olympic Committee was immediately suspended from PyeongChang 2018, with major suspicion also raised over doping at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

The IOC ruled that Russian athletes with a consistent history of drug testing and no history of doping would still be allowed to compete, albeit without the Russian flag or under the auspices of the Russian nation.

Instead those athletes will be represented by the “Olympic Athlete from Russia” logo on their uniforms and the Olympic anthem will be used if they are to win any medals.

Initially, 500 Russian athletes were presented to the IOC for consideration, 111 of whom were immediately dismissed.

However, 169 athletes were eventually invited to compete under the OAR banner – but that number could still rise.

A specific investigation into the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games and allegations of doping during the olympiad handed lifetime bans to 43 Russian athletes.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned 28 of those and partially upheld 11 more appeals.

But 13 of those 28 athletes have now applied to compete at PyeongChang 2018 – requests that have been turned down. (Source: Express.co.uk)

February 7, 1998

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Thursday July 21, 2016

July 20, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 21, 2016

Dick Pound says ban Russia from Rio 2016 Olympics

The founder of the World Anti-Doping Agency says the answer is clear — Russia should be banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics for the good of the movement.

Dick Pound, a longtime IOC member and a former competitive swimmer himself, says the IOC has an opportunity to send a clear message about zero tolerance for doping in the Olympics.

“This is institutional cheating. It’s just not acceptable in sport,” said Pound on Wednesday.

But the enormity of Russia — both athletically and politically — seems to be giving the International Olympic Committee pause, and it’s delayed any decision on the allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia until Sunday.

“It’s political — instead of focusing as we should on the sport aspects of this,” Pound said.

Far from marring the Olympic brand, Pound said banning Russia from the upcoming games would improve the reputation of the IOC and the Olympic movement more generally.

“It would demonstrate that, on matters of principle, and the protection of clean athletes and the integrity of competition, that the Olympic movement is prepared to suspend even one of its most successful countries, because it has been demonstrated to endorse and in fact organize cheating.”

Russia has been accused of running a widespread state-sponsored doping program designed to give Russian athletes an edge in international competition by WADA, the agency Pound founded, which has recommended that Russia be banned from the upcoming games.

Pound said he understands the IOC delaying the decision for fear of legal reprisal from Russian athletes, but says they’ve missed an opportunity by not embracing WADA’s recommendations.

“If I were the president of the IOC, I would be on my knees saying, ‘Thank you for taking this albatross from around my neck. We are happy to do what you recommend,'” Pound said.

Russia is not the only country with a doping problem, but this situation is unique in that it was run by the state and extended to almost all areas of high-level sport in the country, he noted. (Source: CBC News)

Friday July 27, 2012

July 27, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Friday July 27, 2012

Olympic brand enforcers out in full force

As almost everyone in the world must know by now, there may not be enough guards to provide security for the 2012 London Olympics because of a planning and hiring fiasco.

Alas, there are no such concerns about the number of enforcement officers and lawyers charged with checking for violations of the Games’ oppressive brand protection regulations.

The Orwellian-sounding Olympic Deliverance Authority has 280 Olympic brand enforcers authorized by the government fanning across Britain this week to ensure nobody uses the five hallowed rings for any purpose unless they have paid a fortune to Olympic organizers to do so.

The London Organizing Committee (LOCOG) has a second team of zealots doing similar work on behalf of the rich and powerful.

Among the offences these sleuths are ferreting out under the Olympic Games Act (2006) are putting two of the words “games” “2012” “Twenty Twelve,” “gold,” “bronze” or “medal” in the same sentence.

Offenders could be on the hook for fines of more than $30,000.

Heck, there is even said to be a legal ban on spectators uploading personal photos of the London Games onto social networking sites such as Facebook.

The roundup by the authorities has so far implicated an 81-year-old grandmother of six from Norfolk who made a tiny sweater with the Olympics rings for a child’s doll that her knitting circle intended to sell through a church charity for $1.63. (Source: National Post)

Thursday August 19, 2004

August 19, 2004 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 19, 2004

Doping Buffet

(2 year old story originally for 2002 Commonwealth Games – cartoon from July 27, 2002 – adapted for 2004 Summer Olympics)

The opening ceremonies of the 17th Commonwealth Games will be a chance for host city Manchester to shed its image as a down-on-its-luck industrial city and breed a reputation as a sophisticated sports town that knows how to have a good time.Over 5,000 athletes from 72 Commonwealth countries will march into the new 38,000-seat City of Manchester Stadium tonight to usher in the 17th Commonwealth Games.

The opening ceremonies are expected to be a sellout and Mancunians have been advised to allow for at least two hours to get to the stadium and get through security.

Since the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, large-scale sporting events have been subject to massive security measures and these Games are no different. Manchester was the victim of an Irish Republican Army bombing six years ago in which no one was killed, but about 200 were injured.

Multi-sport Games and the days leading into them often breed doping controversies and political intrigue in addition to stellar athletic performances.

Two members of the Scottish weightlifting team withdrew yesterday amidst doping allegations.

English pole vaulter Janine Whitlock, considered a medal contender, was suspended by UK athletics for testing positive for anabolic steroids and will not compete here. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)