The International Olympic Committee has opted against imposing a blanket ban on the Russian team for next month’s games in Rio de Janeiro.
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The decision was endorsed by some national Olympic committees, but drew criticism from athletes and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which said the ruling would “inevitably lead to… lesser protection for clean athletes”.
The International Olympic Committee on Sunday opted against an outright ban on Russian Federation over a state-run doping scandal in order to protect the rights of clean competitors.
On Thursday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne rejected a plea from Russian track and field athletes to overturn a competition ban imposed on them by the IAAF.
If this turns out to be Thomas Bach’s defining moment, here’s what the leader of the International Olympic Committee will be remembered for: keeping Russian Federation as part of the club, but losing the trust of thousands of athletes who thought that, maybe this year, they’d get the answers they’ve been looking for. 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.
Athletes who have been sanctioned in the past for doping won’t be eligible.
There we have set the bar to the absolute limit for how Russian athletes can achieve to compete in Rio.
But speaking on a media call, Bach added that “this is not about expectations – this is about doing justice to clean athletes all over the world”.
The IOC board decided against the ultimate sanction, in line with Mr Bach’s recent statements stressing the need to take individual justice into account.
It made no mention of the 11 Russian judokas who are set to compete.
And Radcliffe – who competed at four Olympics between 1996 and 2008, finishing fourth in the Sydney 2000 marathon – has accused the International Olympic Committee of failing to adequately deal with the ongoing crisis.
“The 67 athletes banned by the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) are not competing in Rio”. Still, the message it sends, “is incomprehensible and will undoubtedly deter whistleblowers in the future from coming forward, ” said Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
– asked the federations to examine the information and names of athletes and sports implicated in the McLaren report, saying any of those implicated should not be allowed into the games.
Additionally, any athlete who has previously tested positive for doping is ineligible, even if they have already served their suspension.
And athletics have already ruled that their track and field team will now not be allowed to compete at the Games.
While calls had been growing for a blanket ban after the damning evidence in the McLaren report, the IOC said that Russians would be able to participate if cleared by their respective global federations.
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“In a nutshell, the presumption of innocence can not be applied to them, there is insufficient time for hearings with the Games so close”.
