USA: 'No Russians allowed because the world is OURS!'
According to the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) most recent results (2014), the leading sports doping offenders are as follows: Russia (148), Italy (123), India (96), Belgium (91), France (91), Turkey (73), Australia (49), China (49), Brazil (46) and South Korea (43).
What hasn't been made clear is that these figures encompass all sports, not just Olympic sports. As an example, of Australia's 49 offenses,
20 of them came in Rugby League. Should that be used in deciding whether or not to ban Australia from competing in the Olympics? Obviously not.
What also hasn't been made clear is that it is irrelevant to look at the absolute number of transgressions of any nation in making a decision on whether or not to impose a ban. We would expect the US, for example, to have a much higher number of athletes caught doping than Fiji because the US has far more athletes than that tiny nation. Likewise, it makes sense that Russia would have more athletes caught doping than, say, Bolivia.
Comment: The death of Saleh may be seen as a game changer. His sudden absence creates a responding shift, unlikely for the better. See also: