THE International Olympic Committee says it will study “legal options” before deciding whether to ban Russian Federation from the Rio Games over its state-run doping program.
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Wrestler Jordan Burroughs is counting the minutes to Rio.
After a report led by the Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren on Monday found that the Russian government had directed and covered up widespread performance-enhancing drug use at the Sochi Olympics and other competitions, the World Anti-Doping Agency called for the country to be banned from the Rio Games next month.
But the most shocking of Rodchenkov’s claims related to Russian Federation taking advantage of its host status at the Winter Olympics by devising a plan to allow its athletes to dope under the noses of global observers.
“The IOC will not organise or give patronage to any sports event or meeting in Russian Federation”, the statement published by the IOC read, noting that this included the 2019 European Games, a large athletics event.
The Olympic leadership said it will also have to wait for a Court of Arbitration for Sports decision ruling on Thursday on an appeal by 68 Russian athletes against an IAAF ban from competition.
It said it is going to wait to find out the ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding an appeal of Russian track and field athletes to be eligible to compete, following the IAAF and International Olympic Committee ban. “I think the Russian mentality is such that the more they anger us, the better we will perform”, he said. That included allegations by Moscow’s former lab director, Grigory Rodchenkov, that dirty urine samples of Russian athletes – including medalists – were swapped out for clean ones in covert middle-of-the-night operations at the Sochi lab.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday the probe is going to include “athletes, coaches and support staff”, and it will feature the retesting of samples from the 2014 Games.
“The McLaren Report has concluded, beyond a reasonable doubt, a mind-blowing level of corruption within both Russian sport and government that goes right to the field of play. and most importantly, our hearts go out to athletes from all over the world who were robbed of their Olympic dreams”.
Three fried egg sandwiches, an omelet, a bowl of grits, three pieces of french toast and three chocolate chip pancakes. that is what Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps used to eat for breakfast…every day.
Hansen says “profound cultural, organizational, and procedural changes (are) required before all sports can confidently welcome clean sportsmen and sportswomen from Russian Federation to future global events”.
Russia’s athletes face a nervous wait to see if a blanket ban will be imposed with the International Olympic Committee announcing it will retest all of its athletes which competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The IOC’s executive board met on Tuesday to discuss potential sanctions for Russian Federation, with track and field athletes from the country already subject to a suspension from the IAAF that prevents them from participating in Rio next month.
The provisional measures will be in place until December 31, the Lausanne-based body said.
The IOC did not say when it might rule on Russian athletes scheduled to compete in the Rio Games.
“It is important to focus on the need for individual justice in all these cases”.
The IOC said in its statement today it would have to take that decision into account. Russia’s sports minister also suggested that Russia’s equivalent of the FBI would be opening an investigation into the report.
These immediate decisions are part of a number of International Olympic Committee responses to the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA)’s “Independent Person” report into doping in Russian Federation.
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Rodchenkov said, under direct control from the Russian Sports Ministry, he worked out a new cocktail of steroids to give athletes and established a system to cover up positive samples.
