To say that I’m surprised would be a blatant untruth. But doping violations were uncovered by the IOC against Russia. The allegations are so deep and widespread that the entire Russian track and field team has been banned from the 2016 Rio games.

It’s not uncommon for athletes to be banned for doping or PED usage, but when you have an entire group of athletes being banned from the Olympic Games, you’re in unprecedented territory.

According to reports the doping started in 2011, after the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and reached critical mass at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, that were hosted by Russia. A report recently issued states that the scandal was similar to what you’d see in an espionage type movie. Through the use of trapped doors and secret compartments, blood and urine samples taken from Russian athletes were replaced with clean samples.

As mentioned earlier, the IOC has already banned the Russian track and field athletes, a ban that was recently upheld through an appeals process launched by the Russian Olympic committee. Now the IOC is considering a ban of the entire Russian delegation.

As if Rio is not having enough problems with the Zika virus, water pollution, and security concerns, add this to the pile and you have a formula for what could be the WORST Olympic Games ever. The quandary that the IOC faces is that they have no idea who on the Russian team is actually clean, and not on the juice.

The eastern bloc nations have a long history of doping and PED usage dating back to the late 70s and early 80s when the former Soviet Union and East Germany dominated Olympic type sports by using what amounted to “sports factories” producing “super” athletes who were stronger, faster, and could jump higher than anyone on the planet. I thought those days were long gone, and Olympic sport was finally enjoying some much needed fair play. I guess I was wrong.