World Anti-Doping Agency President Craig Reedie said the organization is “disappointed that the IOC did not heed WADA’s executive committee recommendations” after investigators “exposed, beyond a reasonable doubt, a state-run doping program in Russian Federation that seriously undermines the principles of clean sport”.
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Following the country’s doping scandal, the International Olympic Committee has left it up to individual sports’ federations to ban Russian competitors.
“The ITF will also be seeking confirmation from WADA that none of those players, or the Russian Tennis Federation, were implicated in the McLaren report, in accordance with the International Olympic Committee decision”.
The US anti-doping head says “the Olympic flame burns a little less bright” after the decision not to ban all Russian athletes from competing in Rio de Janeiro.
The decision has been endorsed by some national Olympic committees but drew criticism from athletes and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which said it would “inevitably lead to. lesser protection for clean athletes”. “The EOC stands ready to provide the ROC with every assistance in this regard, with EOC members already at the forefront of the fight for clean sport”.
Yulia Stepanova, the key whistleblower in the Russian doping scandal that nearly led to her country being completely excluded from the Rio de Janeiro Games, will miss the Olympics after the runner was controversially ruled out due to her doping past. “A truly strong message for clean sport would have been to ban all those who have been caught cheating”.
Rutherford also insisted he always believed the International Olympic Committee would choose not to upset Russian Federation by imposing a blanket ban.
The IOC declared that no Russian athlete “who has ever been sanctioned for doping” was eligible – seemingly forgetting that American athletes Justin Gatlin and LaShawn Merritt will compete and could very well win two or more of the Games’ most prized gold medals.
The IOC’s decision yesterday, less than two weeks before the Rio Games opens on August 5, follows the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) call for a blanket ban in response to the independent McLaren report that found evidence of state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. “This is about doing justice to clean athletes all over the world”. Stepanova, now living in the United States, competed as an individual athlete at last month’s European Championships in Amsterdam.
Russian officials and government officers have said that the doping allegations are part of a western conspiracy against their country.
Tygart expressed dismay at the decision to bar Stepanova, describing it as “incomprehensible” and saying it “will undoubtedly deter whistleblowers in the future from coming forward”.
Russia’s Sports Minister, Vitaly Mutko, said the decision cleared the way for Russian participation.
United States anti-doping chief Travis Tygart, one of many who urged a total ban against Russian Federation, blasted the International Olympic Committee for creating “a confusing mess”.
With WADA and others around the world calling for an outright ban, the IOC’s board held a three-hour teleconference to discuss the matter Sunday.
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The International Tennis Federation wasted no time in clearing the seven Russian players nominated for Rio.
