That would dash the hopes of middle-distance runner Yulia Stepanova, the whistleblower and former drug cheat whose initial evidence led to one of the biggest doping scandals in decades.
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But the International Olympic Committee said Stepanova did not meet the criteria for running under the International Olympic Committee flag and, because she had been previously banned for doping, did not satisfy the “ethical requirements” to compete in the games.
Russia’s tennis team will be allowed to compete at the Rio Olympics this summer after the International Tennis Federation (ITF) backed the decision not to impose a blanket ban on the country’s competitors.
Isinbayeva also called for Stepanova to be “banned for life”. However she and her husband, Vitaly Stepanov, have been invited to attend.
The IOC also said Russian Federation is barred from entering for the Rio Games any athlete who has ever been sanctioned for doping.
Russian athletes in all sports aside from athletics will be cleared to compete as long as they can show they have fulfilled a set of stringent criteria.
Only athletes who pass “reliable adequate worldwide tests” will compete, and Russian tests were deemed invalid, according to an IOC statement. The IOC accepted that ruling, but would not extend it to other sports.
Stepanova has previously failed a doping test.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee underscores the importance of protecting clean athletes and upholding integrity in sport. CAS dismissed the appeal by the Russian Olympic Committee against the IAAF Thursday.
“The 67 athletes banned by the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) are not competing in Rio”. No athlete ever sanctioned for doping or implicated in the McLaren report will be allowed to take part.
Head of the Japan Sports Agency Daichi Suzuki said that International Olympic Committee “respects individual rights of athletes”.
“The decision to refuse her entry in to the Games is incomprehensible and will undoubtedly deter whistleblowers in the future from coming forward”, Tygart lamented. “In this way we protect these clean athletes”, Bach said.
But, as Bach noted: “This might not please everybody”. “This is about doing justice to clean athletes all over the world”.
The IOC set extra criteria for Russian athletes when ruling out a complete ban. Athletes who have previously served doping bans will not be eligible, while global federations will also analyze an athlete’s testing history.
“We’re going to have to look at it case by case, rider by rider and team by team”.
It also ordered the immediate re-testing of all Russian athletes from the Sochi Olympics.
The IOC had said that disciplinary proceedings would be opened against Russian officials cited in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) McLaren report on Monday.
The 200m butterfly swimmer has expressed his disappointment labelling the decision “an absolute cop out from the IOC”, and is urging athletes not to share the podium with any Russian medallists.
Some organisations, such as the International Weightlifting Federation, would be most likely to ban Russians because of the huge numbers of positive tests in that sport.
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Just what are these Olympic ideals we hear so much about anyway?
