Olympic Committee Refuses to reinstate Russia

Well this is disappointing to say the least. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered the Olympic Committee to reinstate 28 Russian athletes but the Olympic committee has refused to lift the ban and did not let the Russian fag be flown at the opening exercises in Korea. Consequently I will no longer be covering, watching or endorsing Olympic events. The Olympics without Russia is not the Olympics. A gold medal without Russia competing is not a gold medal.

Olympic corruption is nothing new. We saw it at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake. We saw it at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. October 2017 the Guardian reported Rio 2016 Olympic chief Carlos Nuzman arrested in corruption investigation. "Nuzman was arrested on suspicion of corruption, money laundering and participating in a criminal operation after Brazilian prosecutors alleged his estate increased in value by 457% between 2006 and 2016. They claimed not to have been able to locate any evidence of increased income."

September 2017 the Guardian reported that Familiar whiff of corruption continues to taint Olympic Games. "The Tokyo Olympics bid team made secret €1.3m payments to the Black Tidings bank account in Singapore, which is associated with the same notorious fixer who is accused of using illegitimate means to help Rio." The Olympic Committee is so corrupt it is beyond repair and I will not longer endorse the Olympics. I will endorse international sporting events instead.

In 2016 Flotrack reported that The IOC's True Ideals: Corruption and Greed. "These Summer Games have been marred by controversy, and in turn, have opened the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) practices up to public scrutiny. In the most recent episode of HBO's "Real Sports," Bryant Gumbel and his team of journalists delivered a 90-minute expose on the IOC's long history of corruption, greed and human rights violations."

"The Olympic Games are marketed as more than just a way to showcase the best athletes in the world. The Games, according to the IOC, are the only way of bringing the world together in peace. But a deeper investigation reveals something else: the glory of reaching the pinnacle of sport is just a marketing pitch. In reality, the IOC is driven solely by a lust for money, and have repeatedly exhibited a total lack of compassion for the athletes and ruined cities they often leave in their wake. To support a country's bid, individual IOC members have requested everything from cash to paying for plastic surgery for their spouses."

International sporting events like world cup soccer, world cup hockey and rugby are worth watching. The Olympics are not. Recreating the Worlds Fair would be much more productive. Last year the World's Expo was held in Kazakhstan.

Science world and the Expo Skytrain line in Vancouver is a reminder of Expo /86. Montreal and Seattle both have reminders of when they hosted world fairs. That is worth supporting.