Did Russia Get Off Easy With Their Olympic Ban?

Jeré Longman writes in The New York Times that Russia may have gotten off fairly lightly for the systematic doping scandal during the Sochi Olympic games. Russian athletes are still allowed to compete if they pass rigorous drug screening protocols, and they will have uniforms that identify them as “Olympic Athlete from Russia.” The Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended and the athletes will not march under the Russian flag or hear the Russian anthem, but the punishment would have been much harsher if all Russian athletes had been prohibited from participating.