The IAAF stands behind that call- though Russian Federation has gone ahead and submitted an appeal to the the Court of Arbitration of Sport.
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It looks as if the 62-year-old IOC chief wants to avoid a complete exclusion of Russian Federation from the XXXI Games around the CAS decision and the global sports, but he can’t keep waiting for what the associations do or what the CAS does.
On Monday, a Canadian law professor delivered a damning report to the World Anti-Doping Agency that found Russia’s Ministry of Sport and other government agencies actively “controlled and oversaw the manipulation of athlete’s analytical results or sample swapping”.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has barred Russian sports officials from receiving official accreditation toattend the upcoming Olympic Games, a statement released on the IOC website read Tuesday.
International Olympic Committee: the IOC will start disciplinary actions related to Russian Ministry of Sport officials, explore legal options with regard to a collective ban of all Russian athletes, take steps to limit involvement in sports events in Russia, exclude Russian politicians from accreditations in Rio, reanalyze samples from Sochi, among several other steps. “It seems to me it is a very strong argument in favor of our track and field athletes’ participation in the Olympics”.
A day before a sports court rules on Russia’s appeal against the ban on its track and field team from the Olympics, star Russian athletes at a meet near Moscow pondered how they will react if they lose their case and can’t go to Rio de Janeiro. “He has been tested by anti-doping officials, who were not Russians, dozen times recently”, Zhukov said.
Far from marring the Olympic brand, Pound said banning Russian Federation from the upcoming games would improve the reputation of the IOC and the Olympic movement more generally.
The IOC executive board held a meeting by teleconference on Tuesday to consider its steps in the wake of the McLaren report, which found that 28 summer and winter Olympic sports were affected by state-operated cheating in Russian Federation.
“They are concerned about the events around the national team but this does not inhibit them”, Zhukov told reporters.
In less than two years, Russian sport has been brought to the brink of being thrown out of the Rio Olympics. The FISA EC carefully noted that the International Olympic Committee asks all IFs for a full inquiry and, in case of implication in infringements of the World Anti-Doping Code, sanctions against Russian National Federations.
The IOC “will explore the legal options with regard to a collective ban of all Russian athletes for the Olympic Games 2016 versus the right to individual justice”, said a statement.
First of all though, the International Olympic Committee lawyers have to explore what legal options there are for a blanket exclusion of Russian athletes for the Olympics and how this is also compatible with athletes’ individual rights.
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The Russian appeal questions the validity of the IAAF decision and seeks to ensure the participation in Rio of “any Russian athlete who is not now subject to any period of ineligibility for the commission of an anti-doping rule violation”.
