A three-member International Olympic Committee panel will make a final ruling on which Russian athletes will be able to compete at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, the IOC said Saturday as it met for the final time before the opening of the games next Friday.
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The IOC is still in shock over attacks for not ordering a blanket ban on Russian athletes following an inquiry by Canadian lawyer Richard McLean for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
More than 250 Russian athletes have so far been cleared to compete in this year’s games, which start next week.
International Olympic Committee director of communications Mark Adams said the executive board would rule on each case.
“And then it’s up to the panel to decide if they accept or not for each individual athlete”.
The panel will be made up of IOC Athletes’ Commission chairwoman Claudia Bokel of Germany, IOC Medical Commission chairman Ugur Erdener of Turkey and Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch.
In justifying its actions against Russia, the IWF said retests of samples from seven Russian weightlifters who took part in the 2008 Beijing Olympics or 2012 London Olympics resulted in positive tests, and more were expected.
Stepanov had given details of the state-run doping programme in Russian Federation.
The CAS has already rejected an appeal by 67 Russian athletes against a ban ordered by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) before the IOC sanctions.
The IOC has been roundly criticized by anti-doping bodies, athletes groups and Western media for not imposing a total ban on Russian Federation.
Weightlifting became the second sport after track and field to issue blanket bans on Russian athletes.
The IOC left it to individual sports federations to vet which athletes could compete or not, saying it would deny entry to those who did not meet the requirements set out by the federations.
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The IWF said the ban also applied to Russia’s technical official for the Rio Games, whose appointment was withdrawn.
