Following the report, WADA recommended the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee and all international sports federations ban Russian athletes from all international sports competitions, including Rio 2016.
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The swimmers were implicated in a report by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren that detailed state-sponsored doping in Russian Federation across more than two dozen summer and winter sports.
The IOC opted not to ban all Russian athletes from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after revelations of a wide state-backed doping programme across many sports.
“It was only when CBS 60 Minutes and the New York Times, on 8 and 12 May 2016 respectively, published the allegations from the former director of the Moscow and Sochi laboratories, Dr Grigory Rodchenkov, that WADA had concrete evidence suggesting Russian state involvement that could be investigated by initiating the McLaren Investigation, which we did immediately”, said Reedie.
She abstained from the recent IOC decision not to hand Russian Federation a blanket ban from Rio 2016, but has received criticism from some quarters for her lack of vocal responses in comparison with World Anti-Doping Agency Athletes Committee counterpart, Beckie Scott.
“If we did it in one scale the stadium would be that big”, Chrzan said, using his hand to indicate the stadium would be very small.
“I will make sure our voices aren’t just heard, but that they are effective and that we empower athletes around the world to do the same”.
The chief spokesman for the Rio Olympics told The Associated Press on Monday that Olympic athletes can rest assured they will be safe in the city’s waters.
More than 250 Russian athletes are now expected to compete in Rio after a strict selection process. It says the ISF conducted no tests after 2010, then tried to reinstate a testing program in 2015, only to scratch testing at one event for fear athletes would test positive.
An arbitrator from the Court of Arbitration for Sport will make an initial ruling before the final decision goes to the International Olympic Committee panel.
“So therefore the IOC can not be made responsible neither for the timing nor for the reasons of these incidents we have to face now and which we are addressing and have to address just a couple of days before the Olympic games”, Bach said. Morozov, 24, and Lobintsev, 27, have called on CAS to declare “invalid and unenforceable” an International Olympic Committee order for federations to exclude athletes implicated in the investigation into Russia’s state-run doping system. “The integrity of the Olympic family is all under attack”, Zhukov said. How far can you go to punish an individual for the failures or manipulations of their government?
“Succeeding in improving your markers would be, in many cases, reason enough to celebrate their performance” at the Games, said Cid.
In terms of general preparations for the Games Bach said: “It’s all coming together”. “There will be, as always, some late challenges”.
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But he added that the Brazilian authorities had acted quickly in recent months and “we are more confident than ever that we will have a great Olympic Games a la Brazil”.
