The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has expressed disappointment that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not heed its recommendations to ban the Russian contingent from participating in the Rio Olympics starting on August 5.
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The Australian government has criticised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for rejecting a blanket ban on Russian athletes at the Rio de Janeiro Games, saying their participation risks damaging the reputation of the Olympic movement.
It also said it was analysing all anti-doping tests provided by the Russian rowers due to compete in Rio dating back to 2011, the full results of which would be known on Tuesday.
On Sunday, the IOC Executive Board chose to deny the request of Russian track and field athlete and World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) informant Julia Stepanova for a permission to take part in the 2016 Olympics, citing an advice of the IOC Ethics Commission.
Russia’s track and field athletes have already been banned by the IAAF and other federations now face a race against time to establish those Russians who meet the criteria set out to allow them to compete in Brazil.
One user called the International Olympic Committee a “disgrace” asking what lengths must a country go to to be banned from the Olympics.
And 800-meter runner Yuliya Stepanova, along with her husband, provided evidence of widespread doping in track and field to the IOC.
The IOC decision was endorsed by the national Olympic committee of neighbouring New Zealand, which said the global body had taken the “strongest possible measures”.
“There’s going to be a huge cloud over every Russian athlete”.
The sports minister said she was “urgently seeking the AOC’s reassurance that Australian athletes will not be negatively impacted or unfairly disadvantaged by this decision”.
“Under these exceptional circumstances, Russian athletes in any of the 28 Olympic summer sports have to assume the consequences of what amounts to a collective responsibility in order to protect the credibility of the Olympic competitions”, said the IOC.
WADA’s investigators had found further evidence that dope-testing in Russian Federation has been manipulated by official bodies.
Some Russian athletes apparently ruled out from the games include swimmer Yulia Efimova, the current world champion in the 100-meter breaststroke, weightlifter Tatyana Kashirina, who won a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics, and Olga Zabelinskaya, a bronze medal-winning cyclist, all of whom have previously been sanctioned for doping.
Was it now more likely the IPC would follow the IOC’s lead?
Russian Federation has always denied it ran a state-controlled system of doping, claiming the investigations and the calls for it to be banned were part of a US -led plot.
“It’s an optimal decision for us in this situation”, Shamil Tarpishchev, IOC member and head of the Russian Tennis Federation told reporters.
Two-time pole vault Olympic champ and world record holder, Yelena Isinbayeva, who will still miss the Olympics together with the country’s track and field squad, said that IOC understood the scale of the mistake, which would’ve banning Russian Federation.
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Though uncertainty remained around how many Russian athletes would now make it through the federation evaluations in time, many officials and coaches seem to believe the risk they would be barred was now virtually at an end.
