IOC decides against blanket ban for Russians at Games

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has rejected calls for Russia to be banned from next month’s Rio Olympics over the nation’s doping record, offering athletes a lifeline by ruling that decisions on individual competitors will be left to the international sports federations.
The IOC’s decision yesterday, less than two weeks before the Rio Games opens on Aug 5, follows the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) call for a blanket ban in response to the independent McLaren report that found evidence of state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
“I think in this way, we have balanced on the one hand, the desire and need for collective responsibility versus the right to individual justice of every individual athlete,” IOC President Thomas Bach said on a conference call.
“In this way we are protecting the clean athletes because of the high criteria we set. 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.”
WADA and 14 national anti-doping organisations had urged the IOC to impose a blanket ban in the wake of the damning McLaren report, but former Olympic fencing champion Bach said that Russian sportsmen and women “will have to clear the highest hurdle to take part in the Olympics”.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said the IOC had failed to show leadership with its decision.
“Many, including clean athletes and whistleblowers, have demonstrated courage and strength in confronting a culture of state-supported doping and corruption within Russia,” USADA chief Travis Tygart said.
“Disappointingly, however, in response to the most important moment for clean athletes and the integrity of the Olympic Games, the IOC has refused to take decisive leadership. The decision regarding Russian participation and the confusing mess left in its wake is a significant blow to the rights of clean athletes.”
Russia’s Sports Minister, Vitaly Mutko, said the decision cleared the way for Russian participation.
“I hope that the majority of international federations will very promptly confirm the right of (Russian) sportspeople in different types of sports to take part in the Olympic Games,” Mutko said. The International Tennis Federation wasted no time in clearing the seven Russian players nominated for Rio. The ITF said the players have been subject to a rigorous anti-doping programme outside Russia, which it considers sufficient to meet the IOC’s requirements.
For individuals to be allowed to compete at Rio they must have a spotless international record on drug testing, the IOC said, adding athletes who have been sanctioned in the past for doping will not be eligible.
That would dash the hopes of middle-distance runner Yulia Stepanova, the whistleblower and former drug cheat whose initial evidence led to one of the biggest doping scandals in decades.
The IOC had said this week that it would not organise or give patronage to any sports event in Russia and that no member of the Russian Sports Ministry implicated in the McLaren report would be accredited for Rio.
It also ordered the immediate re-testing of all Russian athletes from the Sochi Olympics.
Though a series of international federations, anti-doping agencies and athletes have since called for a blanket ban, some have said they are against punishing innocent athletes.
“It would be quite difficult for us to think we should ban an entire team, which will include some cyclists who are not implicated in any of these stories we’ve been hearing,” said Brian Cookson, president of the International Cycling Union.
“We’re going to have to look at it case by case, rider by rider and team by team. At the end of the day, Russians are not the only sportsmen or women who have been found doping.”

Russia hails IOC rejection of Rio ban
AFP, Moscow: Russia hailed an “objective” decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) yesterday not to ban its entire team from next month’s Rio Games over revelations of state-run doping.
“It was objective and taken in the interests of world sport and the unity of the Olympic family. We are grateful to the IOC for such a decision,” sports minister Vitaly Mutko told R-Sport news agency.
He added later in televised comments that he was convinced that the “majority” of the Russian team would meet strict criteria to compete.
“As far as the criteria announced for the Russian team on the eve of the Olympic Games they are of course very tough,” Mutko said.
“It is a specific challenge for our sportsmen but I am absolutely sure that the majority of the Russian team will meet the criteria.”
The IOC on Sunday ordered individual sports federations to decide whether Russian competitors should take part in the Rio Games after failing to agree on a complete ban.
The Olympic body’s executive decided that any Russian athlete wanting to go to Rio, where the Games start on 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 Russian secret service.
Russian sports bosses welcomed the decision and began looking forward to the the competition in Rio.
“I don’t see any problem with the participation of our tennis players at the Olympics,” Shamil Tarpishev, the president of Russia’s tennis federation told TASS news agency.
“I am sure that the whole team that we’ve named will compete at Rio.”
The head of Russia’s swimming federation Vladimir Salnikov told R-Sport that he was waiting to hear from the international swimming federation if the new IOC criteria would rule out swimming star Yulia Efimova, who tested positive for banned substance meldonium.
Separately, an IOC ethics commission also ruled that 800m runner Yuliya Stepanova, who turned whistleblower on doping in Russian athletics, could not go to Rio even as a neutral.
 Russia’s track and field team is already barred from Rio and the decision to exclude Stepanova, who served a doping ban exposing the rot inside Russian athletics, was greeted with approval by officials.
 “It is correct that they did not let in Stepanova. I support that decision,” athletics federation head Dmitry Shlyaktin told R-Sport.