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To date, about 30 sports federations have disqualified Russian athletes from various competitions.

And it’s not just sports – Russian musicians have had their performances canceled; an international cat show even banned cats owned by Russians.

Then last week, the that runners from Russia and Belarus would not be allowed to run in the Boston Marathon, because of their country’s brutal attack on Ukraine.

That prompted a listener named Michael to write me. He spent 7 years in Boston, he’s a former marathon runner himself, and he told me he thinks this is wrong.

He found the marathon to be a bonding experience, where for a few hours people from all over the world could get beyond politics and focus on a finish line. He said the decision to ban Russia athletes – over a war they had no part in – left him sad and perplexed.

I’ve visited a number of countries at a time when Americans were considered the enemy. Iran, Iraq, Cuba – Russia back when it was the Soviet Union – and in every one of those places, the people I met drew a distinction: between me as a person and their feelings about my government.

But in none of those places would I have run around broadcasting my national identity.

During the week I spent in Baghdad in 2004, I was treated very well by the Iraqis I met, even though they were justifiably angry about the chaos we created. But I would have been a fool to go running around Baghdad looking like an American.

I think that’s the difference. Banning Russians from the Boston Marathon is not going to do anything to help Ukraine, but the course winds through eight cities and towns. The crowds are pretty close. And given the level of emotion over what Russia has done, I think letting the Russian athletes run could create the kind of tension which would make it pretty uncomfortable, if not dangerous.

We might have another opportunity to test this idea that sports should rise above politics, because I see that Moscow has a marathon too – it’s called the Moscow International Peace Marathon, scheduled for September 18. Should Americans sign up for the Moscow marathon in the spirit of friendly competition? I know that’s the way it should be – sports should rise above politics – but knowing what should be doesn’t always make it so.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.