Yulia Stepanova, the key whistleblower in the Russian doping scandal that nearly led to her country being completely excluded from the Rio de Janeiro Games, will miss the Olympics after the runner was controversially ruled out due to her doping past.
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Individual sports federations will have primary responsibility for determining every Russian athlete’s eligibility for Rio, the International Olympic Committee executive said. “The FIG will – as soon as possible – establish the “Pool of Russian eligible athletes” as per the criteria stated in points 2 and 3 of the abovementioned IOC Executive Board decision”, the document says.
Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford has branded the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to impose a blanket ban on Russian Federation at next month’s Rio Games as “spineless” and expressed surprise that more athletes were not speaking out.
Her participation at the Games had been viewed by many as key to encouraging more whistleblowers to come forward, but the International Olympic Committee were required to sanction her participation at the Olympics.
United States Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart slammed the IOC’s move, stating that “the decision to refuse her entry to the Games is incomprehensible and will undoubtedly deter whistleblowers in the future coming forward”.
Stepanova, who provided evidence of doping in a series of German broadcaster ARD documentaries, has fled Russian Federation and is living in hiding at an undisclosed location in North America, fearing for her safety.
The European Olympic Committees (EOC) said on Sunday it supports today’s decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Russia’s participation in the Rio 2016 Olympics.
She told Russian news agency R-Sport that “at least one wise decision on track and field has been taken” in Stepanova’s case.
An expert from the Court of Arbitration for Sport must also approve each individual decision.
This has disappointed Pavey, who is set to become the first female track athlete to compete in five consecutive Olympics. Finally, no athletes named in the WADA report put together by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren is eligible.
The International Tennis Federation has already said the Russian players nominated for Rio have been subject to a total of 205 drugs tests since 2014, and will be allowed to play.
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Russia’s full Olympic team would consist of 387 athletes.
