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 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 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 ’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. Rejecting calls for a blanket ban on Money is always a good place to start seriously challenge Bolt at either 100 or 200 Russia, the IOC decided on July 24 that individual stole Hitler’s Berlin show when seeking the seeds of the destruction meters. More than racing against Gatlin, sports federations should investigate athletes of almost any enterprise. though, Bolt is racing against the clock - implicated in the report and decide who should But the Olympics have also long been a and into history. And yet, the doping BERLIN: Eighty years after Jesse Owens won on show at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. be excluded. So far, at least 117 individuals from four medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic The imposing arena, which was built for place for countries and political move- scourge doesn’t elude him, either. His relay the 387 that the Russian Olympic Committee ments to make bold statements. During the medal from 2008 is in jeopardy now, thanks Games, his daughter says Germany’s Nazi the 1936 games, held 100,000 for the open- wanted to enter have been excluded. Russian leader Adolf Hitler refused to shake her ing ceremony with nearly 4,000 athletes from Cold War, the motivation was obvious: win- to retests conducted by the IOC that indi- sports minister Vitaly Mutko said Saturday he ners and losers at 100 meters certainly did- cate teammate Nesta Carter could have father’s hand. The controversial Berlin 49 nations taking part. But there was no expected 266 athletes to compete. Boxing, golf, Olympics opened on August 1, 1936 to much escaping the racist undertone of the 16-day n’t decide the arms race, but the Olympic used a banned substance. In the past, the gymnastics and taekwondo federations have yet medal count was the sort of scoreboard- IOC has stripped entire relay teams of fanfare with Reich’s Chancellor Hitler hoping spectacle in anti-semitic Germany, with only to report their decisions. The three-member pan- to showcase the best of the Aryan race with one Jew, Helene Mayer, allowed to compete driven result either side could use to claim medals even when only one person dopes. el is made up of Ugur Erdener, president of World superiority in the increasingly bleak stand- At almost every stop he makes, Bolt is the hosts planning to dominate the podium for the German team while several countries Archery and head of the IOC medical and scien- across the 19 different sports events. boycotted the games. But Owens’ legacy has off between East and West. asked about doping. In an interview before tific commission, Claudia Bockel of the IOC ath- “I remember going over to the Olympics his tuneup race in London in July, he Owens ruined Hitler’s plans as the black echoed down the years in Berlin. Sprint star letes commission, and Spanish IOC member Juan American sprinter won gold in the 100 Usain Bolt set the current 100m and 200m thinking, as a 20-year-old, that it’s the most showed off the Band-Aid covering the mark Antonio Samaranch. idealistic of institutions,” said Tom where testers had drawn their latest tube metres, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump world records on the famous blue track, when gold over six magical days at Berlin’s Olympic the 2009 world athletics championships were McMillian, a member of the 1972 American full of blood. “Rules are rules and doping RUSSIA SWIMMERS CHALLENGE BAN Stadium. His achievements made a mockery held in Germany’s capital, and he refered basketball team that lost the gold -medal violations in track and field is getting really Two Russian swimmers, Vladimir Morozov game to the USSR after officials gave the bad, so if you feel like you need to make a of the Nazi ideology of Aryan supremacy and directly to Owens. Both sprinters were 22 and Nikita Lobintsev, on Saturday launched the when they made history in Berlin - 73 years Soviets three chances to inbound the ball statement then thumbs up,” Bolt said of the first challenge against the IOC sanctions exclud- according to sporting folklore, Hitler refused with 3 seconds left. “Then, you wake up the Russian ban. He has never tested positive, to shake Owens hand, despite the Americans apart. “Jesse made history here, so I’m going ing them from the games. to try to do the same,” Bolt said in Berlin in next morning thinking, ‘This is a flawed has mostly managed to smile through the The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will historic display. Owens died of lung cancer, institution.’” thinly veiled questions about his own dop- aged 66, in 1980, but his daughter, Marlene 2009 before winning the 100m, 200m and hold an emergency session in Rio on Sunday to 4x100m world gold medals. His times of The is history, but what’s ing virtue, and, when the stakes are great- hear their appeal, according to sources close to Owens Rankin, says as far as she is concerned, currently happening in Russia has been est, has rarely failed to put on a show peo- her father never shook Hitler’s hand. 9.58secs for the 100m and 19.19m for the the case. Morozov, 24, and Lobintsev, 27, have 200m have never been bettered. —AFP described, time and again, as ‘70s and ‘80s, ple want to watch. — AP called on CAS to declare “invalid and unenforce- Owens Rankin said her father always gave able” an IOC order for federations to exclude ath- one answer when asked whether he was con- letes implicated in the investigation into Russia’s gratulated by Hitler in Berlin, three years state-run doping system. They were among sev- before the start of World War II which ended en Russians banned by the International with the Nazi leader’s suicide in the ruins of Swimming Federation (FINA) last week after the Berlin in May 1945. order was published. Morozov, a member of the “He always said ‘I didn’t go to the Berlin 4x100m freestyle relay team that took bronze at Olympics to shake Hitler’s hand’,” the 77-year- the 2012 London Games, and Lobintsev, who old daughter told magazine Sport Bild. “‘I took silver in the 4x200m freestyle team in went there to run. And that’s exactly what I Beijing in 2008 and bronze in the 4x100m did. “‘I’m here today and where Hitler is, I do freestyle in London, have taken their action not know’ “Because of that, I don’t think he against the IOC and FINA. shook his hand.” “Both swimmers request CAS to declare the decision of the IOC executive board of July 24 OWENS MOVIE 2016 invalid and unenforceable,” said a CAS Owens’ daughter first visited Berlin in statement. “The swimmers also request that the 1984, when the road next to the iconic stadi- decision of the FINA bureau of July 25 2016, um was renamed Jesse Owens Allee in trib- declaring both of them ineligible for the ute to her father. In his autobiography, Olympic Games in Rio, be set aside.” Owens said Hitler did nothing more than Morozov said in a letter to FINA president raise his hand in acknowledgement when the Julio Maglione this week that he had never pair were in the same room during the Berlin failed a drug test by Russian and international games. “That’s in my favourite book about experts. “Throughout the last six years I’ve been him,” said Owens Rankin. “I don’t know for drug tested by doping control agencies at my sure if that happened, but my father was not home and at the pool, at least once a month, the kind to make stories up. and sometimes every other day,” he said in the “If he said that, then I think it’s what hap- letter published on his Facebook page. “I am pened.” ‘Race’ the biographical sports drama sure that in a justice-driven system I have full based on Jesse Owens’ story, and directed by right to take part in the Olympic Games.” Stephen Hopkins, hit the screens in Germany on Thursday in time for the 80th anniversary RIO ‘WILL NOT BE CLEAN’ of his achievements. WADA president Craig Reedie, who called for There is also an exhibition of rarely seen a complete ban on Russian athletes in Rio, is to photographs from the 1936 games currently Jesse Owens address the IOC meeting later. The CAS has