Local Expert Weighs In On Whether Olympics Are Fun Or Fraud
By Marcy Norton
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The summer Olympics games are underway in Rio, but Russian athletes are competing under a cloud of suspicion.
Investigators uncovered a huge, state-sponsored doping program that touched nearly every sport, but only 100 Russian athletes were disqualified.
A local sports law professor talked to CBS News about why big events can be magnets for corruption.
The short answer is, money, says Andrew Brandt of Villanova's Jeffrey S. Moorad Center for the Study of Sports Law. But he says organizations like world soccer's governing body, FIFA, which had its own corruption scandal, and the International Olympic Committee, can be a little incestuous.
He points out the president of World Anti-Doping is also vice president of the International Olympic Committee.
"So these inherent conflicts, the stain of kind of conspiracy corruption just sort of clouds the whole system."
Brandt says such conflicts explain why the IOC left it up to individual, national sports federations to police themselves, which leaves a lot of questions about cheating. But at least for now, Brandt doesn't think the scandal will heavily affect the games.
"I think people are going to focus on how fast Michael Phelps swims, and Usain Bolt runs, that's the sports are what drives everyone."