Presidential "elections" take place in Russia in March and protest spirit in the country has been uncomfortably high. Putin finding it harder than expected to cruise right to the presidency. Heck, he hasn't even officially announced that he's running yet! Olympic thing may either a) discredit him at a time the country's economy continues to suffer and international isolation/sanctions take their toll or b) feed his narrative of Russia as a "besieged fortress" that must be defended against the evil, encroaching West.
Also as one Freeper noted to me:
Let’s not take for granted that the Olympics are taking place next-door to North Korea! Who knows how this can be used in a geopolitical tug of war...
I suspect that IOC officials will see the light, probably through puffy, swollen eyes.
With no NHL players and no Russia, Slovenia could win Hockey Gold.
Why do we even have Olympics anymore?
Cancel the Olympics. Besides, it is in Korea, which is unstable situation and should be moved to somewhere else. Then again, chance of me or my family watching it regardless of where it is held is zero.
How is the Olympics going to handle the TransGender problem?
Will it allow men who proclaim themselves female, to participate in female events?
If so, it seems to me enforcing doping rules are silly.
Men will clearly break all female records. The women won’t have much of a chance.
If this unfair advantage is allowed, why should any other unfair advantage be addressed?
Perhaps the Olympics won’t allow men to compete with women, and that will make my comments mute.
If it does, ouch! Good luck with claiming fairness is the objective in all instances. It clearly wouldn’t be.
I am not a follower of Olympics stuff, but I thought that a lot of this retroactive medal stripping was due to new testing that detects previously unbanned substances.
Testing samples from eight years ago seems pretty strange to me. Eight years after taking third place, a participant becomes the gold medalist..
I guess it's okay as long as the Soviets don't ride the Tour de France.
The Olympics have been a farce for 40+ years.
It is the only chance for people who spend time on things people find boring (net up: the NFL in the Olympics).
A waste of time, effort and treasure.
Let’s blow them off forever.
If they exclude Russia, it will be official that the Olympics are just another tool and plaything for the world’s globalist, progressive elites.
Any Country in question should have ALL of its athletes given “drug tests” before they are allowed to participate.
Point about NFL players disrespecting the National Anthem.
Imagine an Olympic contest won by a country that most Americans find reprehensible, say North Korea, and suppose the U.S. finishes 2nd or 3rd so that the U.S. team is on the podium during the ceremony. Imagine that during the playing of the North Korean national anthem that all the white players on the U.S. team walked off the podium.
The media would go ballistic saying this is extremely impolite and disrespectful, and for once, they’d be right.
I wonder what North Korea has planned for the Olympics?
not gonna happen