IOC will not impose blanket ban on Russia

Rio de Janeiro, July 24

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will not impose a blanket ban on Russia for the Rio Olympics over the nation’s doping record but will leave decisions on individual athletes’ participation with their sports federations, it said on Sunday.

IOC’s announcement follows the World Anti-Doping Agency’s call for a Rio ban in response to the independent McLaren report that found evidence of widespread state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The world governing body’s ruling 15-member executive board met on Sunday via teleconference and decided that responsibility for ruling on the eligibility of Russians remains with the international federations.

Meanwhile, anti-doping officials said that IOC failed to demonstrate strong leadership on a sad day for clean sports. “IOC has failed to confront forcefully the findings of evidence of state-sponsored doping corrupting the Russian sport system,” Joseph de Pencier, CEO of iNADO, the 59-member global Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations, said in a statement. — Reuters