Supporting a ruling made by the world governing body for athletics, the International Olympic Committee determined that athletes will have to submit to individual testing regimes by the IAAF in order to be eligible for qualification for the games in August.
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Questions of the integrity of both Russian and Kenyan doping oversight programs cast “very serious doubts on the presumption of innocence”, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said on Tuesday morning.
The athletes addressed a letter to International Olympic Committee head Thomas Bach saying it would be unfair if Russian track-and-field athletes with no record of using banned substances were not allowed to go to Rio. “The non-compliance declaration of the Spanish NADO is for administrative reasons only and does not affect the doping-control system”, read the International Olympic Committee statement.
The IAAF will decide whether Russian Federation has done enough to have the ban overturned at a meeting in Vienna on Friday.
Jackson Tuwei, the president of Athletics Kenya, said: “We have nothing to fear”.
The IAAF said Russian Federation has not done enough to restore global confidence in its athletes. “As a result, every [international sport federation] should take a decision on the eligibility of such athletes on an individual basis to ensure a level playing field in their sport”.
“If there are (Russian) athletes qualified then they will compete as members of the Russian Olympic Committee team”, Bach told reporters at the end of an extraordinary summit.
The IAAF appeared caught off guard by Bach’s comments, insisting its position had been accepted by Olympic leaders and saying it will work with the IOC to make sure it is “respected and implemented in full”. There is no way to prove that any athletes are clean, it said.
FILE – In this March 31, 2016 file picture President of Russia’s Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov speaks at a news conference in Moscow, Russia.
A chorus of Russian leaders spent Tuesday condemning the IAAF and International Olympic Committee for the blanket ban on the country’s track stars. Earlier this year, the New York Times detailed the ways in which Russia’s state-sponsored athletic association allegedly helped athletes elude doping rules at the Sochi Games in 2014. That report is due out on July 15.
No decision was taken on the possible participation at the games by Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova.
Last week, the IAAF banned Russian athletes from Rio because of evidence of a systematic doping effort.
It’s unlikely the IOC would allow an admitted doper to compete under the Olympic flag, so another solution would have to be found.
There is also an investigation into allegations of doping in Russian and Chinese swimming being conducted by that sport’s worldwide federation, and pressure is growing on the likes of weightlifting and wrestling to follow suit.
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Former WADA president Dick Pound, who led the investigation into Russian athletics previous year, told The Sunday Times that it was “the nuclear option.but not impossible”, and current boss Sir Craig Reedie told a London conference on Monday the second investigation may present a “precedent-setting opportunity”. If it uncovers further widespread, state-backed cheating in Russia, WADA could push for further action against Russia.
