Yuliya Stepanova, the whistleblower pivotal to the discovery of deep-rooted state-sponsored doping in Russian Federation, has hit out angrily at the International Olympic Committee in the wake of its decision to ban her from competing in Rio.
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“Russian athletes who participated in different competitions in all sports have submitted more than 3,000 doping samples”, the International Olympic Committee stated. They originally approached the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2010 but were told it had no investigative powers.
Russia has been under scrutiny since last November when the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, published allegations of organized cheating among athletes, coaches and officials in Russian track and field.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided Sunday against a blanket ban on the country’s athletes, despite reports of widespread state-backed doping across a host of sports. It instead invited Stepanova and her husband to attend the Games as spectators, an offer they declined.
John Coates, Australia’s most senior Olympic official and IOC vice-president, supported the decision of the IOC executive board despite labeling Russian officials as “rotten to the core” in June.
Other worldwide federations now face a race against the clock with the opening ceremony only 11 days away, global sport sharply divided and some Russian competitors already in Brazil. But it also said Stepanova could not compete because there was no provision for her to do so under the Olympic Charter and introduced a new rule that prevented any Russian athlete who had previously served a ban from competing.
‘The decision is unfair as it was based on wrong and untrue statements, ‘ she said.
The IOC said it had partly based its decision on the fact that she had declined to compete for Russian Federation. “Yuliya has been interviewed exhaustively numerous times by officials of the Wada and IAAF, all of whom found her motivations and information provided to be honest and fully credible”, they said.
The IOC thanked Stepanova for her help but stated that her case did “not satisfy the ethical requirements for an athlete to enter the Olympic Games”.
Officials promised to enact a series of reforms, overhauling the leadership of their track federation, subjecting athletes to additional testing and inviting global observers into their national anti-doping operations.
Nikita Lobintsev, Vladimir Morozov and Daria Ustinova have been rejected because their names appeared in Richard McLaren’s damning report into state-directed doping. Stepanova had previously been sanctioned for doping but had served as a valuable whistleblower, assisting authorities in their investigation.
Under the governing body’s ruling, the 28 individual sports federations which make up the summer Olympics are free to decide the fate of Russians on a case-by-case basis.
WADA, while vowing to continue its cooperation with the International Olympic Committee, expressed disappointment in a decision it said “will inevitably lead to a lack of harmonization, potential challenges and lesser protection for clean athletes”.
Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova on Monday became the first athlete to announce she would appeal against her ban from next month’s Rio Games over doping.
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Russian archers have been targeted for additional testing, both in and out of competition, since the report was released, the federation said.
