The International Olympic Committee has opted against imposing a blanket ban on the Russian team for next month’s games in Rio de Janeiro.
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Before the IOC made its ruling, Russia’s top Olympic official had warned the International Olympic Committee that its members would be bowing to “geopolitical pressure” if they banned Russian Federation from next month’s games in Rio de Janeiro.
While not imposing a blanket ban on all Russian athletes, the International Olympic Committee decision lays out specific, more stringent criteria for the roughly 400 Russians scheduled to participate in Rio.
The 28 federations have just 12 days to carry out tests, however, with the Games commencing on 5 August.
Russian Federation faces a possible ban from the Paralympic Games.
Zhukov, who attended Sunday’s telephone conference of the International Olympic Committee executive board, says he does not agree with the rule agreed just 12 days before the opening ceremony.
Under the measures, no Russian athletes who have ever had a doping violation will be allowed into the games, whether or not they have served a sanction, a rule that has not applied to athletes in other countries.
– said Russian entries must be examined and upheld by an expert from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
But speaking on a media call, Bach added that “this is not about expectations – this is about doing justice to clean athletes all over the world”.
Russian Federation is likely to be without some of its top athletes at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro thanks to an International Olympic Committee rule prohibiting former dopers from competing.
But the Games As We Know Them are now filled with wide-scale, unapologetic drug cheating, as was documented in a pair of independent reports that gave an unflinching look at a top-to-bottom doping program involving Russia’s government and trickling down to hundreds of the country’s athletes.
While keeping the individual vs. collective argument at their disposal, IOC members also heard Sunday from Russian Olympic leader Alexander Zhukov, who urged them not to bow to “geopolitical pressure” and issue the blanket ban.
And US anti-doping head Travis Tygart said “the Olympic flame burns a little less bright” after the what he called an “incredible” ruling.
Citing the need to protect the rights of individual athletes, the International Olympic Committee decided against taking the unprecedented step of excluding Russia’s entire team over allegations of state-sponsored doping.
Yuliya Stepanova, the 800m runner who blew the whistle on the doping scandal, has also seen her bid to enter the Games as a neutral athlete rejected by the IOC.
“Every human being is entitled to individual justice”, IOC President Thomas Bach said after the ruling of his 15-member executive board.
The IOC ethics commission said: “It is true that Mrs Stepanova’s testimony and public statements have made a contribution to the protection and promotion of clean athletes, fair play and the integrity and authenticity of sport”.
First, The IFs, when establishing their pool of eligible Russian athletes, to apply the World Anti-Doping Code and other principles agreed by the Olympic Summit (21 June 2016).
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Federations will have to carry out an individual analysis of each athlete’s anti-doping record “taking into account only reliable adequate global tests, and the specificities of the athlete’s sport and its rules”.
