The IOC has already banned Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and all other ministry officials from the Rio Games and withdrawn backing for worldwide events in Russia over the doping programme revealed by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren this week.
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The report states ” the surprise result of the Sochi investigation was the revelation of the extent of State oversight and directed control of the Moscow Laboratory in processing, and covering up urine samples of Russian athletes from virtually all sports before and after the Sochi Games”. “It is all about friendship, cooperation and should strengthen relations between nations”.
The International Olympic Committee said its executive board will meet via teleconference on Sunday to consider the issue, but added that a final decision was expected “within the next seven days”.
The Russian appeal questions the validity of the IAAF decision and seeks to ensure the participation in Rio of “any Russian athlete who is not now subject to any period of ineligibility for the commission of an anti-doping rule violation”.
Thursday is an extremely important day for Russian track and field athletes – the members of the national team will find out if they will be allowed to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Sochi findings: McLaren’s report confirmed the stories from those news outlets in which Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov outlined how Russians doped during the Olympics and avoided testing positive for banned substances.
The WADA report was the latest in a line of doping allegations made against Russian athletes and sports institutions. The International Olympic Committee is examining the legal grounds for possibly banning Russia following allegations that Russian government officials covered up hundreds of drug test failures by their country’s athletes.
“The Russian Olympic Committee has acknowledged doping problems but insists that collective punishment against possibly clean athletes would leave “the integrity of the Olympic Movement… endangered”.
Russia’s Olympic Committee pressed on Wednesday with its preparations for the Rio Olympic Games despite the threat of a ban for state-run doping hanging over the country.
Pound is a former head of WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency), and believes a ban is the right course of action because the McLaren report had failed to determine the innocence of any Russian Federation athletes under the umbrella of state doping.
Two Russian athletes were able to escape inclusion in the IAAF ban after proving that they had been tested independently.
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– Called on all worldwide winter sports federations to “freeze” their plans for holding major events in Russia, including world championships and World Cups, and seek alternative venues in other countries.
