IAAF President Sebastian Coe was among those attending, as was Russia’s Olympic committee chief Alexander Zhukov.
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In banning Russia’s track and field team from Rio on Friday, the International Association of Athletics Federations took what was seen as bold and decisive action against drug cheats.
Since then, Russian athletes have been barred from taking part in global track and field meets alongside the world’s best. He said any Russians put forward by the IAAF would be part of the Russian Olympic Committee team and, therefore, compete under the national flag.
Isinbayeva said that she felt “a bit of a joy” when she heard the news from the press conference of International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach in Lausanne earlier on Tuesday.
He said any Russian athlete cleared by the world athletics body IAAF or the Court of Arbitration for Sport as clean and eligible would compete under the Russian flag.
The IOC president said: “these refugee athletes will show the world that despite the unimaginable tragedies that they have faced, anyone can contribute to society through their talent, skills and strength of the human spirit”.
Bach added: “We will have some interesting debate”.
“We support the decision of reviewing the anti-doping system next year”.
For example, all track and field athletes had already agreed to undergo a minimum of three additional anti-doping controls carried out by the IAAF before the Olympic Games. “It’s clear that we were a bit discriminated against, but, anyway, we should fight for every possibility that we have”.
But this year’s revelations have clearly rocked the International Olympic Committee as it also called on WADA to convene an extraordinary general meeting to address the global anti-doping system’s obvious flaws in 2017. But it was clear that those athletes should be in neutral colours, under an International Olympic Committee flag.
Also uncertain were the terms of possible participation at the games by Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova.
Russian Federation could be banned from the Rio Olympics entirely as doping allegations against the country from the Sochi 2014 games may lead to an unprecedented nationwide ban from competing in the summer games. IOC officials are unlikely to let a former doper march under the Olympic flag. Zhukov asked. “From the perspective of Russian athletes, it is an extreme injustice and humiliation”.
“They have to be satisfied the status of the individual athlete puts them on a level playing field with all the worldwide competitors in their sport”, he said. The sport has accounted for 20 of the 55 positive findings recorded so far in the IOC’s retesting of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Bach called this “Olympic Summit” even before the IAAF met in Vienna last week to confirm that the All Russia Athletics Federation had failed to meet the “verification criteria” needed for reinstatement.
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A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin would not say whether the country’s entire team could boycott the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro if its track and field team remains banned from competing.
