Officials have handed down a brutal punishment to the Russian Olympic team by banning 118 athletes for their involvement in a doping program created by the Russian government says a report by The New York Times.
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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”.
The IOC opted against a blanket ban on the Russian team and has come under further fire for leaving decisions on individual athletes until too late, with Bach failing to reveal how many would be permitted, despite some events starting tomorrow.
But the IOC ruled out a blanket ban on the Russian athletes and asked global federations to decide which athletes can compete.
Numerous Russian sports stars, including their entire track and field squad, have been barred from the Games over the damaging doping scandal.
In a sign of a growing rift over the issue within the Olympic movement, Mr Bach insisted he was right to reject “the nuclear option”. They detailed proof of a state-sponsored system that helped Russians avoid positive tests.
After the review, the IOC declared in Thursday’s statement: “271 athletes will form the team entered by the Russian National Olympic Committee from the original entry list of 389 athletes”.
A World Anti Doping Agency report last month concluded that there had indeed been state-directed doping by Moscow during the Sochi games. WADA said it set up a commission headed by Dick Pound to investigate allegations of systematic doping made in a documentary by German broadcaster ARD in December 2014. The 40-year-old athlete was the victor of the Olympic gold in 2012, also winning the Olympic silver in 2000 and two bronze medals at the Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008.
“Yes, there’s some disconnect and we’re going to have to bridge that gap”, said Pound, who was WADA’s inaugural president, leading the Montreal-based organisation from 1999-2007.
Any Russian with a past ban for doping will not be able to take part in next month’s Olympics, the IOC ruled.
The country’s officials were also quoted as saying that the International Olympic Committee is still mulling over some cases, but the fact that most of the team is still taking part in the games is more than enough consolation for an embattled nation that was embroiled in a major doping controversy in the run-up to the Olympics.
Russian Federation won three judo golds at London 2012, more than any other country, and will be hopeful of more success in Brazil after 11 of their athletes got the green light.
“It is not the reputation of the International Olympic Committee that needs to be restored but the reputation of WADA”, Gilady said.
“Justice has to be independent from politics”.
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But the two cases involving the three Russian rowers banned by the World Rowing Federation for either being named by McLaren’s report or having a previous doping conviction have taken place today, and a decision is expected later.
