The IOC today stopped short of "imposing a complete ban on Russia" from the Rio Games, assigning "individual global sports federations the responsibility to decide which athletes should be cleared to compete." The decision was announced after a three-hour teleconference of the IOC exec board. IOC President Thomas Bach said, "We had to balance the collective responsibility and the individual justice to which every human being and athlete is entitled." The IOC "rejected calls" from WADA and dozens of other anti-doping bodies "to exclude the entire Russian Olympic team." Russia's track and field athletes "have already been banned by the IAAF," a decision that was "accepted by the IOC again" today. The IOC said that the McLaren report released last week "had made no direct accusations against the Russian Olympic Committee 'as an institution'" (ESPN.com, 7/24).
ESPN’s Bonnie Ford said the IOC decision "puts a huge responsibility on the international federations for each sport." The IOC "also said that no athlete who has served a doping ban in the past can be eligible for these games; I don't expect that to hold up legally." Ford: "We have no idea at this point how many Russian athletes will be ... eligible to compete. My own theory is that we won't know who is competing until they walk into the stadium tunnel Friday, August 5” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 7/24).
USA Today's Nancy Armour writes under the header, "IOC's Decision On Russia A Cop Out." The BUFFALO NEWS goes with the header, "IOC Needs To Get Tougher Against All Cheating Athletes." TORONTO STAR: "Russian Doping Scandal Has IOC Wandering Into Uncharted Territory."
