All Russian athletes who have been banned for doping are not eligible to compete in the summer games, which run August 5 through August 21, the International Olympic Committee executive board decided in a teleconference Sunday.
Advertisement
Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford has branded the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to impose a blanket ban on Russian Federation at next month’s Rio Games as “spineless” and expressed surprise that more athletes were not speaking out.
The IOC said this week that it would not organise or give patronage to any sports event in Russia, including the planned 2019 European Games, and that no member of the Russian Sports Ministry implicated in the report would be accredited for Rio.
Rowing hero and two-time Olympic gold medallist Cracknell tweeted: “Bottled it – IOC passing the buck to individual federation sports on whether to allow Russian athletes to compete in Rio 2016”.
Presently, the IAAF has already declared that Russian track and field athletes will not compete at the games, a decision which was already upheld last Thursday.
Russian officials and athletes mentioned in the independent report by Richard McLaren, which was commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency and found the Russian Sports Ministry oversaw a vast programme to manipulate doping test results, won’t be accredited for Rio, the International Olympic Committee said.
But the Olympic leaders said “each affected athlete must be given the opportunity to rebut the applicability of collective responsibility in his or her individual case”.
Russian Federation however may not be able to organize the 2019 European Games.
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) refusal to ban Russian Federation from the Rio Games was slammed yesterday by United States Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart.
Separately, an International Olympic Committee ethics commission ruled that 800m runner Yuliya Stepanova, who turned whistleblower on doping in Russian athletics, could not go to Rio even as a neutral.
Adding to the already endless laundry list of controversies surrounding the 2016 Rio Olympics, another issue is plaguing organizers as some athletes. That prevents athletes from competing for Russian Federation in global events.
“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”.
Not finding a way for her to compete in Rio “is hardly the unequivocal protection of fair play as a fundamental Olympic principle that the circumstances required”, De Pencier said.
The IOC executive implemented a rigorous set of criteria for each Russian Olympic hopeful.
Advertisement
The IOC says all Russian athletes are tainted by the allegations and will have to prove their innocence in order to compete.
