After the IOC’s decision not to issue a blanket ban on Russia competing at the Rio Olympics, they have passed the baton to the individual federations to make the call on Russia’s participation.
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“We will have to take a very hard decision between a collective ban for all Russian athletes and the natural right to individual justice for every clean athlete in the world”, Bach said.
Australian Olympic racewalking champion and anti-doping campaigner Jared Tallent retweeted a couple of Ings’ posts including one that read: “Are you a doper who has served your ban?”
– The IOC’s decision to let the 28 summer sports determine the eligibility of their athletes puts the federations in a almost impossible situation. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that such a punishment amounted to double jeopardy.
December 2014: A German TV documentary alleges as many as 99% of Russian athletes are guilty of doping.
The IOC’s board gave the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) the opportunity to present the case of the Russian athletes and the ROC.
Nobody implicated, be it an athlete, an official, or an NF, may be accepted for entry or accreditation for the Olympic Games.
Disgraceful. I feel so disappointed in the International Olympic Committee again.
IOC President Thomas Bach said in a telephone conference that the IOC had to protect all clean athletes, not answer to anyone’s expectations of a ban.
“This is not about expectations”, he said.
“This may not please everybody, but this result is one which is respecting the rules of justice and all the clean athletes all over the world”, he said.
“At the end of the day we have to be able to look in the eye of the individual athletes concerned by this decision”, Bach said.
Deapite IOC’s appreciation, whistleblower Yulia Stepanova will not be allowed to compete as a neutral athlete in Rio.
Russian Federation was set to compete in 26 events at Rio (not including athletics).
Stepanova has previously failed a doping test and also did not satisfy the IOC’s “ethical requirements”. “The attempt to enforce it will undoubtedly deter whistleblowers in the future from coming forward”. Stepanova has admitted taking PEDs and conspiring with Russian and global track officials to cover up positive tests.
He said he hoped that the majority of sports federations will support the right of Russian athletes to compete in the Games.
– Athletes must be individually cleared by their respective sports federation.
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.
The ITF was quick to do so and announced that the Russian team will be welcome to compete in Brazil.
“Unless they have a track record of clean, worldwide testing outside of Russian Federation then they’re out”. “That does not seem like a victory to me”. However, the International Olympic Committee added that it would invite her and her husband, Vitaly Stepanov, to attend the games. Any of those implicated should not be allowed into the games, it said.
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The IOC executive decided that any Russian athlete wanting to join Rio Olympics starting August 5 will have to prove that he or she was not involved in the doping which an independent investigator said was organised by the sports ministry and the Russian secret service.
