Rhetorical question.
How is the ROC allowed to compete? A teenage skater isn’t to blame here, it’s the open corruption of the IOC. I can’t decide which is more corrupt, NCAA, FIFA or the IOC!
ROC is the sham Russian Olympic Committee.
Well, I am not going to take up for the IOC in this matter but let me show you a chart:
Where is the cut-off when applied to banning countries? Russia has the most banned athletes (this is only a Track and Field breakdown apparently) but we're up near 20 ourselves. Jamaica conducted only one test before sending their delegation to London in 2012.
This isn't to say that you should just allow anyone to compete but I don't think we can ban a nation outright because of some bad actors.
But about the IOC...
What the problem is, in my view, is that the IOC essentially outsources their responsibilities to the international federations (35 of them) that oversee (or is it overlook???) the sports and the individual nations become virtual "black boxes" when it comes to self policing. Very famously, the US left sprinter and straight up freak Sha'Carri Richardson off of the 2020 US Olympic Team because she had marijuana in her system. The decision to leave her off the team was done by the US Track and Field Association--not the USOC (who likely would have rejected her anyway). She took responsibility for her actions and the result was a "clean" event. When nations do not act in good faith and athletes do not take responsibility, you have what transpired on the figure skating ice in Beijing this week with collateral damage to the Games at large. Not to mention a 15 year old phenom who may not ever recover emotionally. Sidebar::: how do you counsel someone who goes through something like this at that age?
In short, what Russia did was this as I understand it: The Russian Doping Agency conducted a drug test on 12/25/21. Vileava flunked the drug test on her "A" sample. When this happens, the proper protocol is to test the "B" sample immediately. The "B" test was never done. So it was termed as "inconclusive" which allowed her to go to Beijing. Once the competition began, the IOC demanded the results and then we have the "discovery" of the flunked test. The suspension was imposed. Then the court of arbitration overturned it.
Again, the IOC is outsourcing it's decision to the Court in this case.... For those interested...here is the flow chart from 2016... not especially hopeful in terms of who is over what; and this is before you even get to the individual nations' Olympic committees and their layers and layers of bureaucracy (the USOC has like 46 federations that answer to it--US Track and Field, US Basketball, US Weightlifting etc...).
I would speculate as to why the IOC is set up this way to where it reaps the rewards for the games but avoids any responsibility...but that speculation isn't necessary. It's money. Pure and simple. Having Russia compete in the Olympics means that millions and millions of Russian eyes are watching the TV and Internet screens and paying the broadcaster who bid on the rights to show the competitions. If Ivory Coast had this doping problem....the IOC would have no problem banning them from ever saying the world "Olympics" much less sending a delegation.
Its exactly like the NCAA in my view without the "bad cop" of public humiliation keeping bad actors in line, somewhat. The NCAA needs Alabama, Notre Dame, USC and Penn State more than they need the NCAA. In some ways, the Olympics is in the same boat with the individual countries. If the US were so inclined, they could act just as bad as the Russians.... NBC has paid $7.7 Billion through 2032. If the US were to be banned, that money would evaporate quickly thereafter. And that doesn't include the money spent to get the games in LA, Paris, etc...
One does have to wonder where the $7.7 Billion plus goes....