“Athletes of the world remain optimistic that the Olympic Games will continue to be a place of equality, justice and fair competition”.
Advertisement
Russian track and field athletes seem unlikely to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games after their ban from global competition was extended on Friday, with damning accusations made about the country’s lack of anti-doping efforts.
“The eligibility of athletes in any worldwide competition, including the Olympic Games, is a matter for the respective global Federation”, said the IOC in a statement.
Russia, a superpower of track and field, had lobbied furiously to avert the prospect of a Summer games without its athletes.
The eligibility of athletes in any global competition including the Olympic Games is a matter for the respective worldwide Federation.
UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner accepts the International Olympic Committee is in a hard position but urged it not to bow to pressure to allow Russian athletes to compete in Rio.
However, by accepting the IAAF decision and the federation’s jurisdiction over the athletes, the International Olympic Committee indicated it will not interfere.
On Friday, hours after the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) voted unanimously to uphold the ban on the doping-tainted Russian federation, Professor Richard McLaren, in a statement, said the Russian Ministry of Sport was involved in instructing a Moscow anti-doping laboratory to “not report positive sample results” from testing carried out at the 2013 IAAF Championships. “I will certainly meet her”, he said.
“The IOC will initiate further far-reaching measures in order to ensure a level playing field for all the athletes taking part in the Olympic Games Rio 2016”, the organisation said on Saturday.
It has the power to overturn the IAAF’s decision but vice-president John Coates said on Saturday he would be “very, very surprised” were that to happen.
An IOC Olympic summit in Lausanne is scheduled to discuss the issue. Our position is clear.
Russian Federation was suspended from track and field by the IAAF in November after an independent report from WADA revealed widespread state-sponsored doping.
Meanwhile, Rune Andersen, who led the IAAF’s taskforce into Russia, has revealed that he has found evidence of wrongdoing in other Russian sports which he has since shared with Wada.
In addition, the IAAF Council ruled that “any individual athlete who has made an extraordinary contribution to the fight against doping in sport should also be able to apply for such permission to compete, in particular, (Russian 800 metres runner and whistleblower) Yuliya Stepanova’s case should be considered favourably”.
German track and field federation president Clemens Prokop, in welcoming the IAAF’s decision, called for opening “a new front” against doping in others sports and other countries.
Advertisement
The powerful Investigative Committee said it had started criminal proceedings against Grigory Rodchenkov for “abuse of power”.
