The IOC also chose to re-check all available doping samples taken from Russian athletes. Its track and field team won’t be there, although that’s being challenged.
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CAS is due to rule on the dispute between Russian Federation, 68 of its athletes and the governing body of world athletics, after the country was banned from sending a track and field team to Rio.
With just over two weeks until the opening ceremony, Russian Federation still doesn’t know whether its athletes – all or even some – will be competing in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. “This is not the most important issue at the moment”.
The Ministry of Sport, the Russian anti-doping agency and the Russian Federal Security Service, the heir to the Soviet-era KGB, were all involved.
The McLaren report showed the Sports Ministry “directed, controlled and oversaw” a “unique” method of sample manipulation at Sochi 2014, while 30 sports are alleged to have been implicated in the swapping of samples to hide positive tests. Russian Federation plans to send a total of 387 athletes, including 68 in track and field, he said. He chaired the WADA Independent Commission that reported on corruption in Russian athletics in November, 2015. McLaren’s investigation found those bottles had been tampered with in an effort to protect a list of doped Russian athletes competing in Sochi.
While putting off a decision on banning Russia, the executive board announced a series of measures to punish Russian athletes and officials implicated in doping.
Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, expressed shock at this attack “on the integrity of sports and on the Olympic Games”.
If the IAAF ban is thrown out and the Russian track athletes are let back in, that would seemingly rule out the International Olympic Committee imposing a blanket ban. It is now evaluating its options about whether to ban the entire national Olympic squad, including seeking expert legal opinions about how to strike the right balance between a collective ban of all Russian athletes versus the right to individual justice.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach held a conference call with fellow officials on Tuesday to discuss the governing body’s next course of action and a statement released after that meeting confirmed disciplinary proceedings have been opened against officials within the Russian Ministry of Sport and others mentioned in the report released on Monday.
It will re-test samples and investigate all Russians competing in Sochi, along with their coaches, officials and support staff. A verdict on its appeal will be issued by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday.
As it stands, the IAAF has approved just two Russians to compete, as “neutral athletes”, after they showed they had been training and living overseas under a robust drug testing regime.
The International Olympic Committee said Wednesday it would take up to a week to decide whether to ban Russian Federation from the Rio Olympics over its “state” doping machine. He’ll likely contend for a medal in Rio – if given the opportunity.
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Regardless of how the various doping-related cases turn out, Zhukov said a Russian Olympic boycott was out of the question. Already the International Olympic Committee has allowed a 10-person refugee team to compete under its flag. “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”.
