The IOC is leaving it up to global sports federations to decide which Russian athletes can compete in Rio de Janeiro next month. “The decision regarding Russian participation and the confusing mess left in its wake is a significant blow to the rights of clean athletes”.
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Any Russians who has served a doping ban will not be eligible for the start of next month’s Olympics.
Under this ruling, 68 Russian track and field athletes who were applying to compete in Rio will not be going to the Olympics. “The “presumption of innocence” can not be applied to them”.
“The ITF believes it is right that clean athletes are permitted to compete in Rio 2016 and looks forward to welcoming the Russian tennis players, along with all other nominated athletes, to Rio”. “All of them have to meet individually these number of very strict criteria we have established here today”.
The 28 individual sports governing bodies will now have just 12 days to carry out an individual analysis of each athlete.
“There’s that and then there’s the testing the International Olympic Committee has said would be undertaken on any athlete that actually clears that first bar”.
On July 24, the International Olympic Committee held a meeting of its executive board to discuss possible blanket ban of Russian athletes at the Rio Olympics.
“Talking of criteria that is presented to Russian athletes, ahead of the Games, it’s rather tough”.
Russian Federation welcomed the IOC’s decision.
Russian Federation faces heavy sanctions after being implicated in a widespread doping scandal, but it has avoided the ultimate punishment.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) chided the International Olympic Committee for “refusing to take decisive leadership” whill UK Sports Minister Tracey Crouch voiced out the “need for stronger sanctions”.
The most immediate New Zealand case is the New Zealand rowing four who were edged out of the final qualification spot for Rio by a Russian crew at the final qualifying regatta in Switzerland in May. A country’s entire delegation has never been banned from an Olympics for cheating, though Russia’s team will likely be severely diminished. While the IOC expressed its gratitude to Stepanova, it said that she doped as well, so the circumstances “do not satisfy the ethical requirements for an athlete to enter the Olympic Games”.
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Russian track and field athletes are already the subject of a suspension from the IAAF, with the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] having this week rejected an appeal against that ban on behalf of 68 affected individuals.
