In its statement, the IOC listed its decisions and what they meant to those athletes wishing to participate and the workload now given to the global sports federations, saying it would not accept the entry of any Russian athlete that could not meet a list of conditions.
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A damning report into state-backed drugs cheating had prompted the World Anti-Doping Agency to call for a near total ban on Russian athletes from the 2016 Olympics, said Bloomberg.
Clean individual “athletes shouldn’t be sanctioned for the system”, IOC President Thomas Bach said on the call with reporters.
The IOC says all Russian athletes are tainted by the allegations and will have to prove their innocence in order to compete.
Zhukov said that all athletes planning to compete in the Olympics had been tested over the last six months by foreign anti-doping agencies, and that more than 3,000 Russian samples were taken by foreign doping control officers and analyzed in foreign labs.
A statement from USADA CEO Travis Tygart said: “Many, including clean athletes and whistleblowers, have demonstrated courage and strength in confirming a culture of state-sponsored doping and corruption with Russian Federation”.
Additionally, Russian athletes permitted into the games will be subject to an additional testing program coordinated by the IF and WADA.
The WADA committee had given its suggestion following its findings that Russia’s Sports Ministry and the Center for the Training of Russian National Teams and the Federal Security Service supported the doping programme in the country’s sports from late 2011 to August 2015.
The upshot of the IOC’S decision is that it now appears that hundreds of Russian Olympic hopefuls must be cleared by their sports’ federations on a case by case basis before the Games begin in 12 days.
Following the report WADA recommended IOC, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and all international sports federations to ban Russian athletes from all international sports competitions, including 2016 Olympics.
But now, because of today’s ban on athletes with previous doping sanctions, the International Olympic Committee says Stepanova will not be eligible to compete.
The IAAF had previously said a handful of the country’s athletes could compete in Rio as neutrals if they meet a number of criteria, including being repeatedly tested outside their homeland.
The IOC have immediately come under fire for their decision, with the United States Anti-Doping Agency condemning the decision not to take stronger action.
The International Tennis Federation wasted no time in clearing the seven Russian players nominated for Rio.
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21 July 2016: Cas rejects the appeal of Russian athletes who attempted to overturn their suspension from this summer’s Olympics.
