OLYMPIC DECISION – AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  There has been a chance that Russia would be entirely banned from the upcoming Rio Olympics because of a doping scandal.  That would have made the games far less interesting and the awards less meaningful.  Russia is an athletic powerhouse.

It looks like the problem has been dealt with, although one has the feeling that Moscow got a glorified slap on the wrist.  From BBC: 

Russia will not receive a blanket ban from Rio 2016 following the country's doping scandal.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will leave it up to individual sports' governing bodies to decide if Russian competitors are clean and should be allowed to take part.

The decision follows a report in which Canadian law professor Richard McLaren said Russia operated a state-sponsored doping programme from 2011 to 2015.

The Rio Games start on 5 August.

Competitors from Russia who want to take part in the Games will have to meet strict criteria laid down by the IOC.

Any Russian athlete who has served a doping ban will not be eligible for next month's Olympics.

COMMENT:   The Olympics are a great spectacle, but behind the spectacle there has always been a hefty level of ugliness – big money, international politics, and assorted scandals in judging. 

Add to that deep concerns about terrorism and possible spread of disease, and the Rio Olympics, the first ever in South America, are being approached with both hope and understandable apprehension.

July 24,  2016