If the Russians don’t want to play, why should they have to stay?

TSX HEADLINES – for Mar. 23, 2018: The tug of war about sport and Russia is getting more complicated by the day.

In addition to an explosive update of the situation at the World Anti-Doping Agency Annual Symposium, the poisoning of two Russians in Britain created a call for a boycott by England at the forthcoming FIFA World Cup in June.

So what should happen? The boycott idea hasn’t gotten any traction, but the war of words between the British Foreign Minister and Russian officials has gotten hot.

And then there was the idea, floated last December by a Russian politician, that the Goodwill Games should be revived as an “alternative” to the Olympic Games.

What happens next? We have some ideas and explore them in our Lane One commentary, plus preview and results in the Olympic world:

(1) THE BIG PICTURE: Remembering Jimmy Carter’s words as he told U.S. athletes they would not be attending the 1980 Olympic Games, 38 years ago this week.

(2) ATHLETICS: The IAAF World Half Marathon Championships are on this weekend in Spain; will Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworer win his third in a row?

(3) FREESTYLE & SNOWBOARD: Another U.S. World Cup win? American Chris Corning leads the Snowboard Big Air World Cup going into the final competition in Quebec City … but not by much.

This issue includes THE TICKER on why the 2018 Winter Games were a success ~ bidding for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games ~ Golf and Surfing qualifying for Tokyo 2020; ON DECK previews of Athletics ~ Cycling ~ Fencing ~ Freestyle Skiing & Snowboard ~ Nordic Combined ~ Table Tennis; SCOREBOARD on Cycling, and AGENDA, our calendar of top-level international events.