Sporting activities are regarded highly across the Russian Federation, as evidenced in their physical culture. Physical culture in Russia involves the country's citizens, maintaining a high level of hygiene and discipline of their bodies ( Geldern, n.d ). Through this culture, Russians have become masters of different sporting activities such as hockey, gymnastics, track and field events, weight lifting wrestling, and swimming, among others. The federal law defines the Russian national sporting policy on physical culture and sport, which was approved on 23 November 2007. The law establishes the legal, organization, economy, and social basis for activities in the realm of physical culture and sports (“ Russian Federation,” 2007 ). The national sporting policy considers physical culture and sports as means to disease prevention, health promotion, a tool to maintain high patriotism among the citizens, and as an adhesive for close ties between people in the Russian Federation. The policy is thus an essential ingredient for the holistic development of Russian society through sustaining a physically fit populace. The Russian culture of sporting is influenced by robust policy frameworks designed and implemented by both governmental and non-governmental institutions.
Several governmental organizations are engaged with making and implementing sporting policies across the Russian Federation. Mostly, these organizations have a specific sporting interest on which they concentrate their focus. Sporting activities in the Russian Federation fall under the Ministry of Sports (Minsport). Minsport is a federal government body whose mandate is to draft and enforce policies and legal regulations in the areas of physical fitness. The ministry is also responsible for providing sporting services such as those that pertain to doping. Last, Minsport is tasked with the management of state resources that are facilitate sporting events for Russian teams ( Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation”, 2020 ). The Minsport is thus the umbrella body under which all other small governmental organizations operate.
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The rich sporting culture in Russia is not the sole preserve of the federal government. Many non-governmental organizations have mushroomed in the various spheres of the sporting world. One will find NGOs in Summer Olympic sports such as basketball, boxing, wrestling, football, gymnastics, and athletic. NGOs that have their operations in the Winter Olympic sports involve in games such as biathlon, skiing, skating, ice hockey, and curling, among others. Besides NGOs that operate directly in field events, there are those that deal with training, welfare, and awareness (“Members register – Russian Olympic Committee.” 2020). The lists of these organizations are expansive that proves that indeed the Russian Federation and its citizenry take sporting activities as key cultural aspects that define the Russian people. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) is a self-governing organization that works with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). RUSADA works to aid the Russian government to implement the anti-doping policies developed by WADA (“ About. Rusada.ru“, 2020 ). RUSADA aims to maintain and restore sporting integrity among all athletes, especially those who participate in global competitions.
Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA)
RUSADA was instituted to prevent the use of doping across the Russian Federation. RUSADA, which was established in 2008, functions as the Russian National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO). From its website, the organization claims that it is an independent body that was created as an inventiveness of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sport. Its formation was in compliance with WADA Code and UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport (“ About. Rusada.ru “, 2020 ). It is the priority of RUSADA to develop an anti-doping policy at the regional level. Through a specialist in each of the Russian Federation, RUSADA is able to exercise its mandate. The specialist, also known as Anti-Doping Coordinator, conducts anti-doping tests on all athletes in a given region. It is the organization's mission to protect sportspersons’ central rights to engage in sporting events free from doping vices.
RUSADA achieves its mission through the use of two different approaches. Firsts, RUSADA is tasked with informing the public and the entire sporting community about the major provisions of the anti-doping framework provided by WADA. Through its sensitization campaigns, RUSADA aims at establishing a zero-tolerance to doping while also implementing and supporting value-based informative programs across the federation. Second, RUSADA plans and conducts testing activities to probe the facts of probable anti-doping regulations violations. In this strategy, the anti-doping body aims to flatten the doping curve in the country. Also, connected to the testing function is RUSADA's duty to conduct hearing on the violation of anti-doping rules (“ Mission," 2020 ). Consequently, the organization ensures that those coaches, athletes, team doctors, and other support personnel who engage in the doping culture are punished. These two roles are its main contributions to policymaking and implementation in the country as far as sporting is concerned.
As the link between WADA and the Russian sporting sector, RUSADA has a lot of opportunities that support its core mandates in the world of sports. As mentioned above, Russia has a rich sporting culture that plays a critical role in the country’s togetherness and growth. The Russian Federation engages in a range of both local and international sporting events. Such events present RUSADA with a lot of opportunities to benchmark and showcase its capacity to contribute to sporting honesty and integrity. For example, RUSADA is tasked with ensuring that Russian athletes comply with all requirements for Olympic participation (Arnold, 2018). Besides, the WADA supportive framework is another opportunity that RUSADA has to which it can align its operations. WADA provides members states with guidelines that they must follow to ensure that global sports are not tainted by the use of banned substances (“ Strategy,” 2019 ). Since WADA is a global and authentic organization, RUSADA should not be influenced by governmental forces to allow athletes to engage in sporting dishonesty (“ World Ant-Doping Agency," 2019 ). However, in 2014 RUSADA was found to have compromised WADA regulations and ethical guidelines at the behest of certain governmental forces.
The Russian government is the greatest impediment to RUSADA’s ability to execute its mandate. The government has an untold fascination with the country's sporting culture. Historically, sporting prowess and achievements were dominant sources of international recognition of the former Soviet Union ( Duval, 2017 ). The government understands that sports played a key role in World War II, and as such, it must have a vibrant sporting culture that will strengthen the Russian Federation's influence on the global front. In an attempt to reestablish sporting dominance, the government pushes RUSADA to allow athletes to engage in unethical practices such as doping. According to WADA, the Russian doping problem has had extremely disruptive consequences. WADA found that there evidences that the government had a role to play in the scandal and tried to skew investigations to its favor (“ World Ant-Doping Agency," 2019 ). Due to doping allegations, about 43 Russian athletes were disqualified for participating in doping activities that gave then undue competitive edge ahead of their counterparts from other countries ( Zaccardi, 2017 ). The need of the Russian government to rapidly establish and cement its position among global power has enticed it to meddle with the country’s sporting affairs, including independent organizations such as RUSADA. According to Arnold (2018), the state-sponsored doping tainted the name of the Russian team in the 2014 gaming events. Thus if the Russian government stops using unconventional means to establish the country as a global power, RUSADA will have an expanded leeway to operate without undue interferences.
Russian Ministry of Sports
As mentioned above, the Russian Ministry of Sport is the topmost federal authority, which is mandated with running sporting affairs in the country. As an organization, the ministry has a well-defined role of formulating and implementing state-wide policies, legal and regulatory frameworks that govern physical training and sports (“ Main," 2020 ). As such, the ministry has substantial influence in the operation of other sporting organizations, including RUSADA. Much of the ministry's opportunities originate from the Constitution of the Russian Federation, Russian Federation presidential memorandum, and international treaties. Thus the ministry has enough power to influence the creation of a robust sporting culture in the country. Another opportunity for the Russian ministry of sport is the thriving physical culture that identifies the people of Russia (Timchenko et al., 2017). The physical culture is an opportunity because it defines the ministry's mandate, which is synonymous with the federation's way of life. One of the greatest impediments to the implementation of national sports policy in Russia by the ministry is indiscipline cases among the athletes. Despite the Russian government bearing the greatest blame for the recent doping problems, players have a key role in ending this vice. The push by players for individual glory is the underlying factor that explains the remaining few doping cases ( Standish, 2020 ). If Russian athletes learn to operate within the requirement for integrity, it will be possible for the Ministry of Sports to create and implement policies.
In conclusion, the sporting sector is a key pillar of the Russian community since it has been used as a uniting factor. Also, the sector has enabled Russia to establish its position as a global leader through its well-established brand in sports. The culture of sports is based on the thriving policies which are prepared by primary by the Russian Ministry of Sports with the help from a host of other non-governmental organizations. After making the policies, the ministry cascades them to other bodies for implementation. RUSADA is one such independent organization that is tasked with implementing anti-doping policies designed by WADA through the Russian Ministry of Sports. Doping is a key vice that hinders the above organization from taking advantage of the rich culture of sports and physical training. However, the Russian Federation has embarked on a process of enacting stricter laws that will instill discipline in the sporting sector.
References
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