Russia has been competing in the Olympics since they first started in 1896. Their use of performance enhancing drugs has finally caught up to them.

According to TheGuardian, at least 577 athletes in 2010 were given oral turinabol or trenbolone, oxandrolone and methasterone dissolved in alcohol that was swished in the mouth and then spit out to avoid detection.

The Russian team has officially been banned from the 2018 winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Their Government officials are forbidden to attend and their flag will not be shown at the opening ceremony. Their national anthem will not be played either. Sophomore athlete, Gianna Conte doesn’t agree with how this situation is going down.

“That’s kind of ridiculous because I think all the countries should be able to participate in the Olympics,” said Gianna Conte. Some athletes from Russia will still be competing, but they will be in a neutral uniform. The official record book will show that Russia won zero medals.

According to the New York Times, the Olympics officials said they may lift the ban before the closing ceremony and the nationals flag could make an appearance at the end of the Olympics. Three sport athlete, Junior Bridget Sheehan thinks that the Olympics is about bringing all the countries together.

“The Olympics is about nations coming together so if you decide to ban one it’s just defeating the purpose. They should just ban those doing the drugs not a whole country,” said Bridget Sheehan.

In the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, Russians tampered with over 100 urine samples to hide the use of steroids throughout the Olympics. Over two dozen Russian competitors were disqualified from the 2014 Olympics. Olympics officials are still redistributing medals and trying to figure out the results of the 2014 Olympics without the people who used drugs.

Along with being banned the Russian Olympic Committee will have to pay $15 million to pay for the drug-tests they will have to conduct on international athletes.

A total of 232 Russians competed in the Sochi Winter Olympics and Alexander Zhukov, the Russian Olympic Committee president, still would like 208 athletes to take part as neutrals this year.

“The Olympics are gonna lose a lot of money, I don’t think it’s fair because they should only ban the ones actually doing the drugs rather than the whole team,”said Maggie Summit. Which is very similar to what Sheehan thought about the situation. They aren’t banning the whole team of Russia, but a majority will not be at the Olympics and that will definitely have an effect on the Olympics as a whole.

“They should do a surprise drug test on everyone so they don’t have time to clean their systems,”  said Junior athlete Grace McGonagle. This would be good because it would reveal the truth because none of the athletes would have time to get the drugs out of their system she said.

Because Russia is the United States biggest competitor, “The Olympics won’t be as interesting to watch without Russia” said Sophomore athlete Kaelyn Scalley.

The use of performance enhancing drugs in the Olympic Games is illegal so, “If they cheated they should be banned if one country is getting an advantage by using drugs” said Mr. Joe Colbert, the head coach of the Track team.

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea are starting on Friday, February 9th and end on Sunday, February 25th. Tune in to see how Russia being banned as a whole will have an effect on the games.