Senior figures in int'l athletics "now expect Russia’s track and field team to be banned from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after the latest developments in the country’s doping scandal," according to Ziegler & Broadbent of the LONDON TIMES. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko "issued an apology, admitting that the country has a problem with doping." However, problems encountered by the IAAF’s task force in Russia have "hardened attitudes of many on the organisation’s ruling council, according to three council members." They now expect the ban on the athletics team not to be lifted on June 17, "which would mean that Russian athletics is excluded from Rio." One IAAF council member said, "The mood changed drastically at the last meeting. People had the impression from the task force that the Russians were just playing with them." Former UK Athletics head coach Peter Eriksson, now Canada's head coach, has accused Russia of "playing ping pong" with the world and said that it was "unthinkable for the country's team to be in Rio." Eriksson said, "I don't think that they should. ... Russia don't care, they are playing ping pong with the rest of the world" (LONDON TIMES, 5/16).
