There are over 300 Russian athletes outside of track and field that have qualified for the Rio games this year, though the odds of them being disqualified by individual sports federations seems like a long shot because, as we said, the games are just 12 days away.
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He also questioned why the International Olympic Committee had not allowed Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova to run as an independent athlete in Rio.
The IOC chose to leave it to individual sports’ federations to decide on Russian sportspersons’ entry into next month’s Olympics.
On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee rejected the idea of a blanket ban on Russia at the Rio 2016 Games, ruling that individual sports federations should decide whether Russian athletes are eligible to compete.
Worldwide sports federations have less than two weeks to decide whether to allow Russian athletes to compete at the Games, which take place between August 5-21.
The stunning allegations about Russian cheating released this week by the World Anti-Doping Agency forced the International Olympic Committee to take aggressive action without the luxury of time, Bach explained.
The question of whether to ban Russian athletes less than two weeks before the start of the global competition came after a scathing independent report found widespread evidence of doping among Russian athletes participating in the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, a city in their home country.
Russian Federation has admitted some doping violations by its athletes and coaches, but still denies that the government was involved.
In deciding against the widespread ban, the International Olympic Committee noted that the attention given to Russian athletes will be far greater than anyone else and those athletes that test clean don’t deserve to be tainted by those who aren’t clean. The new criteria, however amorphous, will likely reduce the number of Russian athletes competing in Rio. It said the presumption of innocence can not be applied to Russian athletes because of the exceptional circumstances revealed by the report.
British athletes were scornful of the decision.
McLaren’s investigation found state-backed doping had involved 28 summer and winter sports from 2011 to 2015.
Stepanova has previously failed a doping test and also did not satisfy the IOC’s “ethical requirements”.
The IOC says the federations have the authority, under their own rules, to exclude Russian teams as a whole from their sports.
“This may not please everybody on either side”, said Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee.
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.
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It also ordered the immediate re-testing of all Russian athletes from the Sochi Olympics.
