The international track and field federation (IAAF) closed the door Friday on having a Russian track team at the Rio Olympics because of the country's deep-seated doping problems.
The International Olympic Committee has seemingly locked it.
Read MoreLOS ANGELES - Alysia Montano wore her trademark flower in her hair, this one a sun-burst yellow, sending out a vibe of brightness across a ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The mood darkened as soon as the subject of doping came up in interviews at the three-day U.S. Olympic media summit here. For Montano, it is a disease so virulent that the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil seems of far lesser importance for the 800-meter runner as she prepares to make the 2016 Olympic team.
Montano is among the athletes most affected by the revelations of widespread doping in Russia, the recent doping positives in Ethiopia and the allegations of corruption and ineptitude regarding doping control in Kenya. Discussing it moved her to choke back tears and criticize some compatriots with unrestrained candor and emotion.
Read MoreReports out of China saying that its former distance running sensation, Olympic champion Wang Junxia, had written a letter 21 years ago saying her coach forced her to dope brought me back to the future – and present.
Which is to say, nothing seems to have changed in track and field, as the busts in the past two years of Kenyan marathon champion Rita Jeptoo and Russian marathon champion Liliya Shobukhova and the international federation’s Russia-centered doping corruption scandal make clear.
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Philip Hersh, formerly Olympic specialist for the Chicago Tribune, has covered 20 Olympic Games. He often uses sport as a way to write about the culture of a country or athlete. READ FULL BIO
