The former French Olympian noted that he does not know what to expect from the IOC’s decision, which will make its decision Sunday.
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The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) asked that the International Olympic Committee “consider its responsibilities”. However, it’s a reminder that despite some of the greatest efforts to “level the playing field” for all athletes, performance-enhancing drugs are still quite prevalent in the sports world.
Fourteen national anti-doping agencies, including the United States, Canada and Germany, sent a joint letter to IOC President Thomas Bach on Thursday calling on him to ban Russian Federation from Rio.
The International Paralympic Committee said that “in light of the prevailing doping culture endemic within Russian sport, at the very highest levels”. The 30 athletes were from four sports and eight National Olympic Committees (NOCs).
The other anti-doping agencies that signed the letter represent Austria, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Russia’ involvement in the Olympics and Paralympics is under a cloud.
“This will scare a lot of people, or send a strong message that the sport is serious about cleaning up”, six-time Olympic sprint title victor Usain Bolt of Jamaica said of the court ruling. “In my view, it’s a subjective decision, somewhat political and one with no legal basis”, Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said to a Russian news agency.
Revelations about Russia’s recent program – which included the use of security agents to smuggle out doping results for testing labs – is unprecedented, Johnson noted.
The entire Russian Paralympic team is facing a possible ban from the upcoming Summer Games in Brazil because of signs of widespread drug violations among Russian disabled athletes, the sports’ governing body said Friday. “This decision was not taken lightly but. The world’s going insane”, 23-year-old Kuchina told journalists.
“However, I am concerned and deeply saddened by the possibility that, in the event Russian athletes are banned from participating in the Olympics, persons not culpable would be punished as well as those who are guilty”.
The arbitration court’s ruling, which many Russian athletes and experts have dismissed a highly politicized action, means the Russian Olympic committee will not be able to delegate the athletes to the Rio Games if they do not meet what is described as the IAAF criteria.
Russia topped the medal tables at both the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in the Russian city of Sochi, winning 113 in total, 43 of them gold.
The doping suspensions, which were put in place last November and extended in June before being upheld Thursday, stand to significantly impact Russia’s ability to compete in the upcoming Olympics.
The IPC said it now plans to conduct further analysis on 19 samples from the 2014 Paralympics in Sochi that were identified in the McLaren report as possibly having been swapped out for clean samples during the Games. For instance, the athlete said, in Kenya, athletes are called ten days in advance and told that they will be tested.
The IAAF suspended Russian Federation in November after an inquiry which first spoke of “state-sponsored” doping.
Of the 53 athletes caught in the first wave of IOC retests from 2008 and 2012, 22 athletes were from Russian Federation, according to the nation’s Olympic Committee.
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In an open letter to the IOC, Gorbachev wrote: “I support the fight against prohibited substances in sport”.
