“The seven Russian tennis players who have been nominated to compete in Rio have been subject to a rigorous anti-doping testing programme outside Russia”.
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Britain’s world and Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford has labelled the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to impose a blanket ban on Russian competitors at the Rio Games as “spineless”.
The report of the Canadian professor Richard McLaren provides strong evidence of a state-sponsored doping programme that started in 2011 continued through London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Olympic Games. It has already started suspension proceedings against Russian Federation following the McLaren report.
“We are grateful to International Olympic Committee for allowing Russian team to the Games in Rio de Janeiro”, added the Minister.
International Tennis Federation became the first governing body to act, clearing all eight Russian tennis players to compete with others to follow suit in coming days.
“I think in this way, we have balanced on the one hand, the desire and need for collective responsibility versus the right to individual justice of every individual athlete”.
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. “WADA is very concerned by the message that this sends whistleblowers for the future”.
“An athlete should not suffer and should not be sanctioned for a system in which he was not implicated”, Bach told reporters on a conference call after Sunday’s meeting.
If this turns out to be Thomas Bach’s defining moment, here’s what the leader of the International Olympic Committee will be remembered for: keeping Russian Federation as part of the club, but losing the trust of thousands of athletes who thought that, maybe this year, they’d get the answers they’ve been looking for. “It is about the individual athlete”.
“I’m just really disappointed”.
The IOC has instead ruled that decisions on individual competitors will be left to the global sports federations.
Questioning whether there was enough time for federations to make their decisions with rigour, Travis Tygart, the US Anti-Doping Agency chief executive, hit out at the IOC’s “disappointing” decision. “The IOC has refused to take decisive leadership”, he said.
The IPC will make its own decision on whether to permit Russian athletes in the Paralympics.
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“The IOC has stated before that they believe anti-doping should be wholly independent and that is in part why it is so frustrating that in this incredibly important moment they would pass the baton to sports federations who may lack the adequate expertise or collective will to address the situation within the short window prior to the Games”.
