“They take the future from our children”: Monson on WADA working methods and unethical attitude towards Russia

- The WADA Compliance Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recommended banning Russia from hosting international sporting events for four years. How will this affect sports in general?

- To begin with, it is worth saying that sport and politics should not be intertwined. It seems to me that for Western countries this is the same way to punish Russia as economic sanctions and other attempts by the EU and the US to hit her economically. Now they are trying to harm the country not only through diplomatic and political means, but also to hit the sport.

Athletes have nothing to do with current problems: neither the issue of Ukraine, nor the sanctions. Of course, anti-doping rule violators need to be punished. Nobody argues with this, including the Russian side. But how can you remove the entire team? And not only the national team, but generally slow down the entire sport in the country for four years. This is ridiculous, this is too much.

- Why do you think this is unfair to pure athletes?

- If you look at how many athletes have passed positive doping tests over the past 20 years, especially at the Olympic Games, it turns out that there will be no fewer representatives of the USA, England, Bulgaria, Brazil and a number of other teams than the Russians. So why isolate only violators from one country, and at the same time punishing the whole team? And even more so, representatives of such sports as, say, gymnastics, where the use of stimulants gives absolutely nothing. Why punish the whole sport, all the athletes of the country for the mistakes of several people? This is incomprehensible to the mind!

- How should sports authorities respond?

- As we have already said, it is impossible to remove the entire country because of several athletes. Remember the biggest scandal in sports history with runner Ben Johnson taking dope at the 1988 Olympics? He won, after which he was deprived of a gold medal. But is it worth it to remove all Canadian athletes due to the fact that he disgraced the country and cast a shadow on all Canadian sprinters?

Do you remember Lance Armstrong? He won the Tour de France seven times in a row, came in third in the eighth year, and then it turned out that he used a number of prohibited substances: testosterone, erythropoietin and so on. Should after that have removed all American athletes for an unknown how many years because of one person? Of course, all members of the US Postal Service team took illegal drugs and recognized this. The remaining participants in the race were furious, but the removal affected only those responsible. After that, the testing process became so perfect that no one else could use doping. Cycling has become clean. The same thing must be done with the Olympic Games and other sports.

- In your opinion, has something changed in these sports?

- Now testing has become so perfect that there is a problem with too many substances. Athletes simply take nutritional supplements and protein, which may contain traces of prohibited drugs, and suddenly it turns out that a person is “using” doping.

The problem is that testing is able to detect the smallest things, and illegal substances are found in people who do not use doping. Those who get doped should be punished for the necessary period, but this should not affect other athletes and apply to entire countries.

- How can an athlete choose between the right to compete and the right to represent his country?

- Good question. You cannot force athletes to make such a choice. On the one hand, they were all born and raised in a particular country, whether it be Russia, Jamaica or the USA. Their friends and families live there. This is their legacy. On the other hand, they spent half their lives on training and preparing for competitions, this is the meaning of their existence.

It turns out that they are forced to choose: either speak in a neutral status, or refuse to participate, but keep their flag. This is the same as offering a person a choice between his first and second child. This is terribly unfair; you cannot put athletes in such a position.

- Will the ban on Russia's participation in the Olympics and Paralympics in 2020, in fact, mean punitive measures against future generations of Russian athletes?

- Of course. Take the Paralympic people. These are people who, despite obstacles and difficulties, participate in international competitions of the highest level. They want to take away such an opportunity from them only because one of the representatives of another sport five years ago came across doping. The same with young athletes. Now the child is engaged in gymnastics, running, swimming, hockey or something else. But he knows that he will not be able to represent the country that he loves when the time comes, because he has been taken this opportunity.

What signal does this decision send to our children? It's outrageous. You take away their future, what they want and love and do - and all because of violations of several athletes in the past. This is ridiculous and completely pointless.

So people thought in biblical times, they say: "This man was blind because of some past sins of his ancestors." Such a decision stigmatizes not only the sports community, but also the international community as a whole.