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Olympic Committee Decides Against Blanket Ban on All Russian Athletes

“The McLaren Report exposed, beyond a reasonable doubt, a state-run doping program in Russian Federation that seriously undermines the principles of clean sport embodied within the World Anti-Doping Code”, Mr Reedie added.

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Clean individual “athletes shouldn’t be sanctioned for the system”, IOC President Thomas Bach said on the call with reporters.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected the appeal by 68 Russian track and field athletes seeking to overturn the ban imposed by the IAAF following allegations of state-sponsored doping and cover-ups.

Australia’s government has questioned the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) leadership in the fight against doping in sport and said Russia’s participation at the Rio 2016 Games risks damaging the reputation of the Olympic movement.

The damning report said Russia’s sports ministry directed a vast doping programme with support from the state intelligence agency that saw thousands of tainted urine samples destroyed or swapped for clean ones.

“Disappointingly … the International Olympic Committee has refused to take decisive leadership”, he said in a statement.

Athletes who have previously served doping bans will not be eligible while worldwide federations will also analyse an athlete’s testing history.

The decision not to ban all Russian athletes from Rio 2016 has been welcomed by the country’s sports minister.

The committee added that it would deny entry to those who did not meet the requirements set out for the federations.

Joseph de Pencier, chief executive of the 59-member Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations, also rebuked the International Olympic Committee for not finding a way to allow Stepanova, who has been “treated disgracefully” by Russian Federation, to compete in Rio.

Second, The absence of a positive national anti-doping test can not be considered sufficient by the IFs.

The World Anti-Doping Agency and other groups had called for Russian Federation to be excluded wholesale from the Olympics, which begin August 5.

Russian athletes will have to satisfy stringent criteria to be approved for competition in Rio.

Last week, Russian Federation lost its appeal against the ban on its track and field athletes from competing in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Pound said, “If you are going to do something as dramatic as suspend an entire team you want to make sure that you don’t trip over some legal hurdle that you haven’t thought of”.

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“Ms. Stepanova was instrumental in courageously exposing the single biggest doping scandal of all time”.

US anti-dopign chiefs blast IOC confusing mess over Russia - The West Australian