The strategy has bought a few days’ breathing space, with the International Olympic Committee postponing any move to ban Russian Federation from Rio until the weekend at least.
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The IOC board has also asked the 20 federations responsible for sports in the summer Olympic programme which were affected by Russia’s hiding of positive tests between 2011 and 2015 to consider banning their Russian member associations. “It is all about friendship, cooperation and should strengthen relations between nations”.
Daley Thompson has called on the International Olympic Committee to ban the entire Russian team from the Rio Games.
Several national Olympic committees have also voiced support for Russia’s case that it would be wrong to exclude Russian athletes who have not failed drug tests. IOC president Thomas Bach called Russia’s actions a “shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport and on the Olympic Games”. It will explore the legal options with regard to a collective ban of all Russian athletes for the Olympic Games 2016 versus the right to individual justice.
Its statement, which could have been plucked from its files from when Russia won the bid in 2010, declared: “Fifa is confident that the local organising committee and the Russian government are going to deliver an outstanding event for football fans two years from now”.
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.
Russia’s track-and-field athletes have already been banned by the IAAF, although the Court of Arbitration for Sport will rule on Thursday whether 68 of those athletes should be allowed to compete in Rio.
The official made the comments to media today at a time when his country is still reeling from the findings of the McLaren Report, which outlined a state-sponsored Russian doping scheme at their home Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.
“For its part, FIFA will request from WADA all details concerning the individual cases of doping in Russian football that are referenced in the McLaren report”.
Russian Federation is not the only country with a doping problem, but this situation is unique in that it was run by the state and extended to nearly all areas of high-level sport in the country, he noted.
The investigation finds the FSB secret service helped “the state-dictated failsafe system” carried out by the sports ministry and covering 30 sports.
Among the measures was the decision to launch a re-analysis of all Russian athletes who participated in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
It also said it would be reviewing all testing of Russian rowers since 2011 and asking the International Olympic Committee for guidance on the possible reallocation of Rio slots to other nations, as the official deadline of July 18 has passed.
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And today the Russian Olympic Committee has announced a 387-strong team, which is down on the nearly 450 they have been taking to the last few Games, but considerably more than many observers will be comfortable with in Rio.
