Opción A - 4 · Inglés PAU Castilla y León Extraordinaria (Fase Mejora de Nota) 2021

OPTION A

RUSSIA BANNED FROM NEXT OLYMPIC GAMES

Russia has been banned from competing in international sport for the next 4 years by the World

Anti-Doping Agency (Wada). This includes the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the 2022 Fifa World Cup in

Qatar. They have been banned for the second time since 2015, having been unable to compete in athletics

since then. Russia was originally banned after being caught cheating at the 2014 Winter Olympics which

5 was hosted in Sochi, Russia. Wada found that the Russian government had operated a state-sponsored

doping programme for four years to help its athletes cheat by using banned drugs. The government then

hid the evidence from Wada.

The ban was a result of a unanimous vote made by Wada’s executive committee in Lausanne,

Switzerland. It came after Russia’s Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) manipulated laboratory data which was

10 then handed over to investigators in January 2019. However, the decision has been criticized by some

campaigners for not being strong enough, since the Russian national anthem and the flag will be absent

from both Tokyo and Qatar, but under the terms of the sanction Russian athletes who can prove that they

have had no part in the scandal and have not used banned substances will be able to participate in the 2020

Olympics under a neutral flag.

15 Although Wada’s president believes this ban to be exactly what should be delivered, vice-president

of Wada Linda Helleland has complained that the 4-year ban is not enough. She has been quoted saying, “I

wanted sanctions that cannot be watered down,” continuing, “We owe it to the clean athletes to implement

the sanctions as strongly as possible.” Those who agree with her are concerned that weak punishments may

only encourage athletes to cheat in the future. The prime minister of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev has accused

20 this ban of being a result of “chronic anti-Russia hysteria.” Rusada has 21 days to appeal the ban and they

have since stated that they do not agree with the punishment from Wada and that a letter will be prepared

on behalf of President Vladimir Putin to fight it. (Fragment adapted from various sources.)

4) VOCABULARY (2 POINTS).

4.1

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4.2

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4.3

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