Instead the Games’ ruling body directed sports federations to allow Russian athletes to compete if they met a set of criteria, including a clean doping past and sufficient testing at global events.
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As a result, WADA suggested that the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and all international sports federations ban Russian athletes from all international sports competitions, including Rio 2016.
“I heard a view this morning that the system is broken”, Reedie told the International Olympic Committee delegates.
The IOC Session overwhelmingly expressed its support for the IOC Executive Board’s decision on 24 July concerning the participation of Russian athletes in the Olympic Games Rio 2016 by a show of hands, with just one member signaling opposition.
Rio de Janeiro, Aug 4: Russia is ready to build a model in sport that will exclude any possibility of doping, the chairman of the newly-established Russian Olympic Committee’s (ROC) anti-doping commission Vitaly Smirov has said.
“Rio de Janeiro would not be where it is today, without the Olympic Games as a catalyst”.
“It is not often that sport is confronted with what has come out of Russia”, Reedie said.
But the overwhelming impression gained from listening to the IOC members who spoke during the debate on the Russian doping crisis was that the Olympic movement places the blame for what has happened squarely at WADA’s door.
Reedie said he was “personally offended” by Werthein’s comments, revealing that he confronted the Argentine during a break in the meeting.
On Tuesday, Bach called for a “full review” of WADA and members lined up to criticise the body, before voting 84-1 in favour of the move to let Russian Federation compete in Rio.
Russian has been at the centre of a new doping storm after an independent investigator, Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, said in a report that there had been widespread state-backed doping in Russia. However, The paper’s sources reportedly said that WADA now has a problem as it “had been caught short not having enough detail to justify some of the claims against athletes.” .
The scandal has led to dozens of Russian athletes being banned from the Olympics, which begin on Friday, including essentially the entire track-and-field team.
Underlying the deep split between Olympic leaders and anti-doping officials, Bach and others put the responsibility on WADA.
Bach also reiterated that the Olympic Movement must engage with youth to stay relevant, highlighting the importance of digital content – including an IOC visit to Silicon Valley – which will also feature prominently in an Olympic News Channel to go on air immediately after the Games.
“The IOC president says it is tough and that I have to believe it will work”, he said.
WADA chief Craig Reedie, who is also an IOC Vice President, defended his organisation’s actions, saying it acted once concrete facts were made available but added that things needed to improve.
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“We need to do a lot more to show that we really do care about fair play, honest competition and clean athletes”, he said.
