Transparency in sporting contracts could head off doping scourge

THE perennial politics of doping among athletes has again come to plague the Olympics, this time in Pyeongchang. Russia has been banned for having practised state-sanctioned cheating at the last Games at Sochi; some "clean" Russian athletes have been allowed to take part, but as individuals, not under the banner of their country.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has banned more than 40 Russian athletes, including some Sochi Olympic champions, and has annulled their records as punishment for the doping. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the supreme organisation for settling sport-related disputes, cleared 28 Russian athletes and dismissed their life bans; their records were reinstated, which made them now eligible to compete in the 2018 Games.

The IOC stood its ground and refused to invite the cleared Russians, claiming that the court decided on evidence that was not available to its own investigation team. Some Russian athletes had appealed its decision to bar them, so, just hours before the Games began, the CAS issued a long and complex ruling: In sum, it said that invitations were a matter for the IOC alone. "The panel has determined that the process, while it may have been imperfect due to time constraints, was appropriate, independent and fairly carried."