42% of Brits supported banning all Russian competitors
Following the recent doping scandal from the Russian Olympic team, nearly half (42 per cent) of Brits would have banned all Russian competitors from the 2016 Rio Olympics games, according to our latest research.Comparing this sentiment across several other competing nations, the only nation which felt more strongly on this issue was Germany, 43 per cent of whom reported this view.
Less concerned was China, where only one in seven (13 per cent) felt that the use of performance enhancing drugs should have the whole Russian team banned from competing in the Olympics.
In some of the countries, the research also seems to vindicate the decision taken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), 57% in China and Mexico feel that the IOC was right to allow individual sports to make their own decision, while 54% in South Africa, 53% in Hong Kong, and 51% in India also felt that the IOC had made the correct call.James Endersby, managing director of Opinium Research comment: ?The use of performance enhancing drugs is an issue which has consistently tainted the modern Olympics. Although most agree on the seriousness of the matter, there are a variety of other factors which impact people?s opinion ? not least that Russia holds an often controversial position on the global stage. As such, our results show how perceptions on how this should be handled vary greatly across the globe; it seems Europeans, for instance, felt stricter action should have been taken in this case.?
