Calls for an all-out ban on Russian competitors in the wake of the report were overruled by the IOC, which instead set a number of criteria, including a spotless doping record and sufficient worldwide doping test, for Russians to be cleared to compete in Rio.
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“We need to resolve the situation before the Games start and then, afterwards, we will have more time to analyse the situation and study it with a certain distance”.
“It should be noted however that Professor McLaren’s focus thus far was on establishing involvement of the Russian State and not regarding individual athletes that may have benefited”. “The result is death and devastation”.
“The cynical “collateral damage approach” is not what the Olympic Movement stands for”.
Former Olympic ice hockey gold medalist Angela Ruggiero was elected as chair of the IOC’s athletes’ commission on Monday, a position which automatically gives her a seat on the policy-making board.
The IOC has been roundly criticized by many anti-doping bodies, athletes’ groups and Western media for not apply a complete ban on the Russian team.
Rejecting calls from anti-doping bodies for a total ban on Russia, the IOC instead gave global sports federations the authority to rule on the entry of individual Russian athletes. At the same time, he added, the International Olympic Committee could not deprive the athletes of the right for a possibility to prove their innocence.
But in another veiled criticism of WADA, IOC President Thomas Bach said: “Given our remit, it is not the IOC that is responsible for the accreditation and supervision of anti-doping laboratories”.
Bach stated the International Olympic Committee had no responsibility for overseeing the accreditation or supervision of anti-doping laboratories, which falls under WADA’s remit.
The $3.1 billion expansion of the metro to Barra, the area housing the Olympic park and athletes’ village, is key to the smooth transport of tens of thousands of fans and athletes between the Games’ different competition zones. “The IOC has no authority to follow up on information about the failings of the testing system”.
After the meeting, Angela Ruggiero said: “I am grateful for the trust my fellow IOC Athletes’ Commission members have put in me and my work”.
Argentine IOC member Gerardo Werthein accused WADA of “grand-standing”.
WADA president Craig Reedie, who had called for a blanket ban on Russian Federation, is to address the meeting on Wednesday.
The IOC has said that any Russian athlete with a prior sanction for doping would not be allowed into the games.
Zhukov also took a swipe at WADA.
“It has not been to establish anti-doping rule violation cases against individual athletes”, McLaren said, adding that it was not his job to process doping cases against individual athletes.
USA member Larry Probst said it was wrong to attribute the problem to “international politics”. The IOC Executive Committee decided not to ban the Russian team.
“World Rowing”;s approval process left just six rowers eligible to compete for Rio, meaning Russian Federation could only compete in one event, the men”;s four, and meant reserve crews from around the world have rushed to Brazil to compete.
“What we have to decide then is much more hard, because we now have to decide what does this system mean for each and every individual.
Therefore, the IOC Executive Board had to reverse the presumption of innocence for Russian athletes and to make him or her bear the collective responsibility for the alleged failures of the government”, Bach said.
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Pengilly’s stance was echoed by St Lucia’s Richard Peterkin and China’s Yang Yang.
