Earlier today WADA confirmed that it had cancelled its scheduled Rio 2016 pre-Games press conference to avoid it being overshadowed by the ongoing Russian doping crisis.
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The International Olympic Committee (IOC), however, rejected a blanket ban choosing instead to leave it up to each individual sport federation to determine which Russian athletes, if any, would be allow to take part in the August 5-21 Games.
“It is an important time within the Olympic movement and our commission has a great responsibility”, Ruggiero said. “Justice has to be independent from politics”.
After the third or fourth Russian question, Bach exhausted of having his buttons pushed, and it was only then that his passion for justice and the law pushed through all the platitudes.
The IOC’s ruling executive board, meeting Saturday for the final time before the opening of the games next Friday, said the panel will decide on the entry of Russian athletes whose names have been forwarded to compete by their global sports federations and approved by an independent arbitrator.
Priddy, who played professionally for five years in Russia and will be taking part in his fourth Olympics, said he was confident Russian volleyballers were clean and was looking forward to playing them in Rio.
More than 100 Russian athletes have been barred from the games so far – including the track and field team banned by the IAAF and more than 30 athletes excluded by other federations since the release of McLaren’s report.
“We trust that we could also clarify that the International Olympic Committee ruling on previously banned Russian athletes does not apply to Yulia as she was declared eligible to run”. That led to McLaren’s investigation, which corroborated Rodchenkov’s claims that dirty samples of Russian athletes were replaced with clean ones during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.
“The McLaren report revealed a system which is an attack on our Games and an attack on our values but you can not deny the right of athletes to attempt to prove their innocence”.
“But we have to decide what does this system mean for each and every individual and how far can you go to punish an individual for the failures or manipulation of your government?” “These principles are now being implemented”, he added.
Bach and the International Olympic Committee have been heavily criticized by anti-doping bodies, athletes’ groups and Western media for not imposing a total ban on Russian Federation. Finally it ruled that Russian athletes who had previously been banned for anti-doping violations could not compete in Rio.
“We took immediate measures to shed full light on the allegations and more actions and sanctions will follow if necessary”.
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Reedie, who is also an International Olympic Committee vice president, told The Associated Press that he wanted to set the record straight after Bach’s comments by explaining the agency’s handling of the allegations against the Russians. “There will be, as always be some last-minute challenges”, said Bach.
