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MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2016 SPORTS From horrors of war to Olympics, refugees ready for Rio RIO DE JANEIRO: If bravery was an “It’s absolutely an honor for me to be they gave me all the support to make it course because of the wars in our coun- “I have two brothers that I haven’t Olympic sport, the 10 athletes who here,” Mardini told a press conference possible,” Mardini said. tries,” Anis said. For Congelese judoka seen for years. I don’t remember their make up the first-ever refugee team in Saturday. Less than a year ago, Mardini Misenga, recalling the devastating toll faces,” Misenga said tearfully on Saturday. Rio would be odds-on for a clean sweep was swimming for her life. During a per- ‘WE HAVE IRON WILLS’ that conflict has had on his family was “I want to send them hugs and kisses. I’m of the gold medals. ilous journey to Lesbos, the engine of Mardini is joined in the refugee ranks too much. The 24-year-old broke down here in Brazil participating so that one From Yusra Mardini, a teenage swim- their packed dinghy failed and the craft by another Syrian swimmer, Rami Anis. in tears when he was asked to comment day I can bring them to live with me here mer from Syria who braved a began taking on water. Anis fled Syria in 2011 to avoid being on what message he hoped to send in Brazil.” Another refugee from war in Mediterranean crossing in a leaky Mardini and her sister jumped into enlisted into the army, relocating to through his Olympic participation. the Congo, Yolande Mabika, followed dinghy, to Popole Misenga, who spent the water, grabbed a rope and and spent Belgium from Istanbul in October last Misenga was just nine years old when he Misenga’s journey by settling in Brazil. eight days hiding in a forest as a terrified the next three-and-a half-hours in the year. “I’m very proud to be here,” Rami fled fighting in Kisangani in the “This is not just a struggle for sport it’s a child to flee bloody fighting, each of the choppy water towing the boat to safety. said. “But I feel a bit of sadness that I’m Democratic Republic of Congo. struggle for life. Each one of us had our refugee athletes have overcome daunt- Mardini, who has now settled in not participating as a Syrian. We are rep- Separated from his family, he hid in the own personal stories to tell,” she says. ing odds to maintain their Olympic Germany with her family as a refugee, resenting people who have lost their jungle for eight days before being res- Coach Geraldo Bernardes said the ques- dreams. Mardini, 18, spoke of her says she will proudly represent Syria, the human rights and are facing injustices.” cued and taken to a centre for displaced tion of whether any of the refugee team delight on Saturday at the prospect of Olympic movement and her recently The 25-year-old butterfly and freestyle children in Kinshasa. can win a medal is immaterial. “People participating in Rio, where she will com- adopted homeland when she competes swimmer described the refugee team as He later settled in Brazil, staying in ask if they can win a medal. I say they pete in the 100 meters butterfly and in Brazil. “It’s for my country, for Germany a group that “does not despair.” the country after the 2013 World have already won their medals just by 100m freestyle. and the Olympic Committee, because “We have iron wills. We feel sad of Championships. getting to Rio,” he said. — AFP Bolt brings light to a sport in peril NEW YORK: Since he coasted to the 100- Eastern Bloc-style cheating. Two independ- meter finish line in world-record time at the ent investigations - one into the Russian Bird’s Nest eight years ago, Usain Bolt has track team, the other into the country’s been the smiling face of track and field. He entire sports system - have shown a pattern has served as the anchorman of the of top-to-bottom corruption, involving Olympics - virtually the only reason any government officials, anti-doping lab work- casual fan would pay attention to a sport ers, Olympic Committee members, coaches that has orchestrated its own slow, sad, and, ultimately, athletes who can profit drug-infused downfall. wildly from going along with the program. His tender hamstring improving, Bolt Whistleblower Vitaly Stepanov, a former will be back for a final go-round at Olympic worker at Russia’s anti-doping agency glory when track starts in Rio de Janeiro on whose wife competed in the corrupted Aug. 12. If, as expected, he wins all three Russian system, estimated 80 percent of sprint events - the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay coaches used doping to prepare their ath- - he’ll only add to his legacy and cement letes for the London Games four years ago. himself at the fore of any conversation “They prefer to hide everything,” about Greatest Olympian Ever. He is already Stepanov said of Russia’s modus operandi. the first person to win back-to-back “They say the problem was a lot smaller Olympic gold at 100 and 200 meters. than it actually was.” Whether viewed over the six days he Last week, the IOC rebuffed Stepanov’s runs in Rio, or over the eight years he’s wife, Yulia Stepanova, the 800-meter run- graced the world with his once-in-a-life- ner who exposed Russia’s doping culture time mix of speed, smiles and showman- after being cast out by the track program. ship, the World’s Fastest Man has offered She was seeking to compete at the track a reprieve from the wasteland of cor- Olympics, and had the blessing of the IAAF rupt countries, reshuffled medals and win- and World Anti-Doping Agency. But the at-any-cost malfeasance it has become. IOC said no. It was par for the course. Russians will be absent from this year’s Efforts to sanction Russia have been tinged Olympic track meet - banned by the sport’s with confusion, indecisiveness and politics. RIO DE JANEIRO: A group of dancers perform during the Welcome Ceremony of North Korea at the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro yesterday governing body, the IAAF, which con- for the upcoming Rio 2016 Olympic Games. — AFP tributed to the problems as much as solved CLEAN-UP them over the years. Even with those 67 The long-term repercussions could athletes out of the mix, the 10-day meet is range from an eventual clean-up of the bound to be filled with suspicious glances country’s track program to a “schism” within IOC panel to decide which among the 2,000-plus runners, throwers the Olympic movement, as President and jumpers who will be present - all won- Vladimir Putin suggested as part of the dering if they’ll get a fair shot in a sport heated rhetoric that punctuated the dop- that once defined the Olympics, but is hurt- ing-ban decisions. He called the case Russians can compete in Rio ing because its leaders have proven them- against Russia “a well-planned campaign selves either unwilling or unable to stop all which targeted our athletes, which includ- RIO DE JANEIRO: The International Olympic already rejected an appeal by 67 Russian athletes run doping program to a German documentary the cheating. “It breaks my heart,” said John ed double-standards and the concept of Committee has said a three-member panel will against a ban ordered by the International in 2014, said efforts to clean up sport had failed. Carlos, the 1968 bronze medalist, whose collective punishment which has nothing make the “final decision” on which Russian ath- Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) before “It has always been the case in the Olympics. glove-fisted Black Power salute in Mexico to do with justice or even basic legal letes can compete in the Rio Olympics, set to the IOC sanctions. Athletics was the first sport There has never been a clean Olympics and there City created one of the Games’ seminal norms.” Russia’s world-record pole vaulter, begin in less than a week. touched by the doping controversy. Russian is no reason to believe that Rio will be clean,” he moments. “It’s a hurting thing to see your Yelena Isinbayeva, is among those staying The panel will examine each case individually doping whistleblower Vitaly Stepanov told a told O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper. peers, their names being erased out of the home. She says the remaining track-and- and make the “final decision” before Friday, IOC Brazilian newspaper that the Rio Olympics “will “Unfortunately, doped athletes will be compet- record books because individuals ran faster field athletes will be competing only for spokesman Mark Adams said late on Saturday. A not be clean,” and blasted the IOC for not ban- ing,” said the former Russian anti-doping agency times that might be enhanced by sub- “pseudo-gold” medals without the Russians ban on individual Russian athletes followed a ning Russia. Stepanov, who with his 800m runner (RUSADA) official, now living in hiding in the stances. And the powers that be might turn running in Rio. report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren for wife Yuliya Stepanova, gave details of the state- United States with his wife. —AFP their heads, because they had people com- That’s not so much Bolt’s concern. Over the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) stating ing through the turnstiles with fists full of the past four years, only one man, that Russian doping of athletes had been organ- dollars.” American Justin Gatlin - the 2004 100- ized by the sports ministry and aided by the meter gold medalist who, himself, has Russian secret service at the 2014 Sochi Winter 80 years after Jesse Owens BOLD STATEMENTS served two doping bans - has been able to Olympics.

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