On Monday, Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, who was commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, issued a report accusing Russia’s sport ministry of orchestrating a doping system that affected 28 Summer and Winter Olympic sports.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport denied Russia’s appeal of the ban on Thursday, preventing 68 Russian track and field athletes from participating in the Olympics after allegations surfaced of widespread doping and state-sponsored coverups by the country.
“While we are thankful that our rules and our power to uphold our rules and the anti-doping code have been supported, this is not a day for triumphant statements”, IAAF president Sebastian Coe told Reuters.
“After the latest decision and appeal rejection affirming the IAAF ban, the odds are low that Russian athletes will be competing in Rio in August”.
Following the report, WADA recommended the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and all international sports federations to ban Russian athletes from all international sports competitions, including Rio 2016. “If the accusations are true, Russian Federation not only ran a state-sponsored doping program but also essentially engineered a sweep of the 2014 Sochi Olympic medal count by hijacking the anti-doping testing program”.
He said comments by United States officials calling for a blanket ban on Russian sports people were an attempt to influence the IOC’s decision.
Russian athletes on Thursday reacted with a mixture of anger and despair after the Court of Arbitration for Sport dashed their dreams of competing at the Rio Olympics by rejecting an appeal against a ban for doping.
The CAS ruling though could go a long way towards deciding what the International Olympic Committee does with Russia, whose doping program was laid bare in a report this week detailing how urine samples of doping Russian athletes were swapped at the Sochi 2014 Olympics through a hole in a wall.
Some Russians athletes could compete in Rio as neutrals if they meet a number of criteria, including being repeatedly tested outside their homeland.
In the meantime, the federations that govern sports in the Olympic summer programme are meeting today to discuss their response to the crisis, with several believed to be on the verge of following the IAAF’s lead in banning their Russian member association.
On Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee held an emergency meeting but put off a final decision on whether to ban all Russian athletes from the Summer Games.
“I hope WADA go to the same trouble for all the countries as they’re going to do for Russian Federation”.
In light of the report, IOC president Thomas Bach said: “The findings of the report show a shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport and on the Olympic Games”. Still, the final call on which Russians – if any – go to Rio rests with the International Olympic Committee.
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Sports minister Vitaly Mutko apologised for Russia’s failure to catch the cheats but stopped short of admitting the scandal had been state-sponsored.
