Cooling speculation that "Russia could be banned from the Olympics altogether for systematic doping," IOC President Thomas Bach said that athletes from one sport "should not be punished for the sins of those from another," according to Mitch Phillips of REUTERS. WADA is "due to issue a report on Monday covering its investigation into allegations that a Russian state-run system helped doped athletes escape detection" at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart is one of several people who have said that if the report does confirm the allegations of systematic doping are true then "Russia should be banned from the Rio Olympics." However, Bach said, "It is obvious you cannot sanction a badminton player for an infringement of the rules by an official or a lab director at the Winter Games. ... What we have to do is take decisions based on facts and to find the right balance between a collective responsibility and individual justice." Speaking on a conference call, Bach said that "he did not want to speculate about what measures could be taken until there is evidence of any proven infringement." He added that the IOC "was aware that several federations had already begun carrying out extra targeted tests on Russian athletes and made sure that their samples are tested outside the country in a bid to build confidence in the results" (REUTERS, 7/13).
