Rejecting calls from anti-doping bodies for a total ban on Russia, the IOC instead gave worldwide sports federations the authority to rule on the entry of individual Russian athletes.
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Sir Craig Reedie said he had no choice but to accept the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to impose a blanket ban on the Russian Federation team, but suggested it carries a risk.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Games open on 5 July.
World Sailing has announced that Russian sailor, Pavel Sozykin can compete in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Overall, more than 100 Russians have been excluded, including 67 in track and field.
Bach added that beginning with the Olympics in Brazil the responsibility of imposing penalties on athletes guilty of doping abuse would rest with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne instead of the IOC.
A total of 271 Russian athletes were cleared to take part in the Rio Olympics, Alexander Zhukov, president of the Russian Olympics Committee, told reporters in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. “The majority of the sports have been admitted in full”.
One of the athletes who could take advantage of the new ruling is whistleblower Yulia Stepanova who, together with her husband, ignited the Russian doping scandal by revealing the extent of Russia’s state-sanctioned doping program and cover-ups.
Some of the sports that will see Russians compete in them include boxing, swimming, judo, shooting and golf.
Jack Robertson, the chief investigator for the probe of Russia’s track team, told Pro Publica that WADA president Craig Reedie “had to be literally pressured into every investigation”.
“With this respect for individual justice, we can also send a very clear message to the clean athletes, and in particular, to the clean athletes in Russia”, Bach said.
“We had to take the necessary decisions”, Bach said.
A three-person International Olympic Committee panel had assessed which athletes from Russian Federation can take part after the World Anti-Doping Agency report last month.
“We have informed the global federations and we need to inform the athletes and the NOC’s concerned before we can publish the final results, this procedure is underway”, said Bach, seemingly impervious to criticism about the shambolic run-up to the 31st Olympiad.
But dozens of would-be Olympians from Russian Federation remained in limbo as CAS sorted through their appeals.
“It is not the International Olympic Committee that is responsible for the accreditation and supervision of anti-doping laboratories”, he said.
The exclusion of almost a third of Russia’s athletes for their ties to a government-sanctioned doping program was a blow to the integrity of the Olympics and will severely diminish Russia’s presence across several sports here.
The AIBA carried out individual analysis of the the 11 athletes, following the criteria set by the International Olympic Committee directive of July 24, to assess their eligibility to compete in the Games, which open on Friday. “At times WADA has seemed to be more interested in publicity and self-promotion rather than doing its job as a regulator”.
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“We have broken the record for the number of cases registered, now we have 18 cases, in London we had 11 cases for the entire duration of the Games”, Reeb said.
