WADA had recommended for all Russian athletes to be banned after a report led by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren revealed evidence of widespread state-sponsored doping by the country during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
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“There’s that and then there’s the testing the International Olympic Committee has said would be undertaken on any athlete that actually clears that first bar”. While the IOC expressed its gratitude to Stepanova, it said that she doped as well, so the circumstances “do not satisfy the ethical requirements for an athlete to enter the Olympic Games”. “However it recognized the IAAF right to set such criteria that, regrettably, ban our athletes from the Olympic Games”.
A statement from the IOC after Sunday’s meeting said: “Entry (to the Rio Olympics) will be accepted by the IOC only if an athlete is able to provide evidence to the full satisfaction of his or her worldwide federation”.
The IOC insisted that it has set out “very strict criteria” that every Russian athlete must fulfil if they are to qualify to compete in Rio. And Vladimir Putin’s Russian Federation is a sports powerhouse, a huge country seeking to reaffirm its status on the world stage, and a major player in the Olympic movement.
Ahead of Sunday’s announcement, the International Olympic Committee said it would seek a balance between “collective punishment” and “individual justice”.
The International Olympic Committee’s decision has been criticised by anti-doping organisations, which had called for a total ban.
This decision was unanimous although any athlete who has ever been banned for doping – even if they have served their sanction – won’t be allowed to compete.
The IAAF had previously granted Russian track athlete and whistle-blower Yuliya Stepanova permission to compete in the games as an “independent neutral athlete” – because of her “truly exceptional contribution to the protection and promotion of clean athletes”.
The governing body has been under huge pressure to throw Russia out of the Games after a second World Anti-Doping Agency-funded investigation found proof of a doping programme directed by the Russian state.
In addition, the global sports federations were ordered to check each Russian athlete’s drug-testing record, with only doping controls conducted outside Russia counting toward eligibility, before authorizing them to compete.
“Russian athletes who participated in different competitions in all sports have submitted more than 3,000 doping samples”, the committee said in a statement released online following Sunday’s ruling.
Questioning whether there was enough time for federations to make their decisions with rigour, Travis Tygart, the US Anti-Doping Agency chief executive, hit out at the IOC’s “disappointing” decision.
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“I also feel a little surprised that more athletes are not more vocal about this, especially those with a powerful voice in Olympic sport”, he said.
