Russian Federation is not banned from competing in Rio, but it still could be.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin had said on Monday that any government officials identified in the WADA report, which found evidence of widespread cheating at the Sochi Games, would be temporarily suspended.
He was suspended after his name occurred in a report on the doping of Russian athletes at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the doping allegations “a unsafe return to. letting politics interfere with sport”.
The report showed the Russian Sports Ministry “directed, controlled and oversaw” a “unique” method of sample manipulation at Sochi 2014, while 30 sports are alleged to have been implicated in the swapping of samples to hide positive tests.
The Moscow Laboratory operated, for the protection of doped Russian athletes, within a State-dictated failsafe system, described in the report as the Disappearing Positive Methodology. Russian Federation plans to send a total of 387 athletes, including 68 in track and field, he said.
An independent Commission, headed up by Professor Richard McLaren, set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Monday delivered a report that deemed Russian Federation to be guilty of operating a state-dictated system to protect doped athletes.
McLaren was tasked by the World Anti-Doping Agency with investigating wide-ranging allegations made by former Russian anti-doping laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov in a May article in The New York Times.
“If the McLaren report is confirmed, the logical outcome is a broad exclusion of Russian athletes”, he added. It set up a commission to carry out a “full inquiry” into all of the Russian athletes who competed in Sochi, along with their coaches, officials and support staff.
The response: Russian Federation has suspended numerous officials implicated in the McLaren report.
The Olympics chief and some worldwide federations have called for a way for Russian athletes proved to be clean to compete in Rio.
“The IOC will not grant any accreditation to any official of the Russian Ministry of Sport or any person implicated in the (independent) report for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad Rio 2016”, said an IOC statement. Should the court rule Thursday in their favor, it would seemingly rule out the chance of the International Olympic Committee imposing a blanket ban.
The International Olympic Committee is examining the legal options of a blanket ban following a report by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren that accused Russia’s sports ministry of overseeing doping of the country’s Olympic athletes.
Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva was among those arguing the Russian track and field team’s case Tuesday in Geneva at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
After a meeting of the executive board, the International Olympic Committee said it was seeking legal advice before issuing a blanket ban, as well as a ruling from the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport).
WADA recommended a complete ban of Russian competitors from the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games following the publication of the report, which concluded that the government, security services and sporting authorities of the country colluded to hide doping across a range of sports.
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This would ease those concerned by the potential unfairness of a collective punishment, appease a nation that hosts more major sports events than any other and probably allow those Russians that get through the vetting process to compete in Russian colours, and not as “neutral athletes” under an Olympic banner. Already the International Olympic Committee has allowed a 10-person refugee team to compete under its flag.
