With the Rio Games due to start on August 5, the IOC executive committee held emergency talks Tuesday on what Olympic president Thomas Bach called a “shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport and on the Olympic Games” by the Russian government.
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It also instructed all global Winter Olympic Winter Sports Federations to freeze their preparations for major events in Russia.
But Russia’s top Olympic official expects a final decision by Sunday.
Only the entire team will compete under the Russian flag, Zhukov stressed.
Calls for a blanket ban on Russian Federation – from both the Olympics and Paralympics – followed the publication of the McLaren report on Monday.
The IOC executive decided on Tuesday to wait until after a Court of Arbitration in Sport ruling expected today before deciding whether a blanket Olympic ban on Russian competitors should be imposed. He told the Interfax news agency he was hoping for a “reasonable” decision from the International Olympic Committee on Russia’s participation in Rio.
Right now though, the one responsible for Team Russia is thinking of sending a team 387 strong- including 68 track athletes. “I hope they will tell us something good”.
However, FIG said Russian gymnasts have been subject to controls equal to those of our other leading gymnastics federations and that they should be in Rio. “Boycotts lead only to the collapse of the Olympic movement. But, on the other hand, if you do take the tough line and walk the walk as well as talking the talk, I think a significant portion of the world would be very pleased”.
The world record holder in the pole vault and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Isinbayeva would compete at her fifth games in Rio, but she faces extra obstacles to get there. He said comments by USA officials calling for a blanket ban on Russian sports people were an attempt to influence the IOC’s decision. And for every anti-doping agency and athlete group calling for a full ban in the name of clean athletes, there’s seemingly another sports organization or leader urging restraint.
THE International Olympic Committee said yesterday it would take up to a week to decide whether to ban Russian Federation from the Rio Olympics over its “state” doping machine. IOC executive board held a meeting by teleconference on Tuesday to consider its steps in the wake of the McLaren report, which found that 28 summer and winter Olympic sports were affected by state-operated cheating in Russian Federation.
That includes Mutko, who has denied that the government directed the doping programme.
That already was the case with the IAAF ban on Russias track athletes from Rio following previous WADA-commissioned reports into Russian doping.
Far from marring the Olympic brand, Pound said banning Russian Federation from the upcoming games would improve the reputation of the IOC and the Olympic movement more generally.
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But as the World Anti-Doping Agency noted, the details in the McLaren report, along with allegations by Rodchenkov and others, make it clear that cheating is so rampant within the Russian athletic system – 580 positive tests covered up across 30 different sports – that a presumption of innocence may be misplaced.
