Finally it ruled that Russian athletes who had previously been banned for anti-doping violations could not compete in Rio.
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The International Weightlifting Federation last week suspended the Russian federation after an investigation which found widespread state-run doping in Russia.
President Thomas Bach had sought yesterday to make WADA the scapegoat for the controversy over the participation of Russian Federation at these Olympic Games following allegations of state-sponsored doping made by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren in his Report published on July 18.
But mainly: no, Bach said, he is not regretting the decision by the IOC Executive Board to allow individual Russian athletes to plead their cases and apply for admission to the Games.
“It should be noted however that Professor McLaren’s focus thus far was on establishing involvement of the Russian State and not regarding individual athletes that may have benefited”.
Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said on Saturday he expected 266 athletes to compete. Boxing, golf, gymnastics and taekwondo federations have yet to report their decisions.
The American, an International Olympic Committee member since 2010, won a gold medal at the 1998 Olympics, collecting silver medals in 2002 and 2010 and bronze in 2006.
“The Executive Board will be very happy to engage with her and all the members of the Athletes’ Commission for the sake of all the athletes”, IOC President Thomas Bach said.
“But the Brazilians have shown us that they are capable of dealing with these challenges, including in the short term”, the IOC chief said during his first appearance before the media at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Park’s Press Centre.
“The IOC has demonstrated through these actions that, as an organization made up of national and global sport leaders, it lacks the independence required to keep commercial and political interests from influencing the tough decisions necessary to protect clean sport”, the group wrote.
“We did our best to address the situation in a way that protected clean athletes”.
After the meeting, Angela Ruggiero said: “I am grateful for the trust my fellow IOC Athletes’ Commission members have put in me and my work. That you don’t have the chance to show that you are not a part of this system?” Athletics was the first sport touched by the doping controversy.
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Having failed to follow the recommendation of the World Anti-Doping Agency McLaren Report and issue a blanket ban for the Russians, the International Olympic Committee instead adopted a three-step procedure that leaves the final decision to a panel appointed late on Saturday night. “There has never been a clean Olympics and there is no reason to believe that Rio will be clean”, he told O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper. The call was supported by several national anti-doping agencies in the United States, Canada and Germany among other as well as by some athletes groups.
