Russia "offered to sacrifice its athletes who had previously been sanctioned for doping as part of its plea to avoid a blanket ban from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics," according to Ziegler & Rudd of the LONDON TIMES. Olympic sources said that Russia "offered not to pick at least eight athletes with a doping history, even if they had served their suspensions," at Sunday’s meeting of the IOC exec board, which later ruled out a ban of the entire Russia team. But the move by the IOC to ban all Russians with previous doping records "appears to have backfired already with Yuliya Efimova’s agent saying that the swimmer will contest the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport" -- a case she appears likely to win -- after being declared ineligible by FINA, swimming’s world governing body.
In other developments "after the IOC’s controversial decision to allow Russia to compete in Rio despite evidence of the country’s rampant, state-organised doping," the World Anti-Doping Agency disclosed that it "advised the IOC and Rio organisers to increase security at the drugs-testing laboratory in Brazil." The looming court case by Efimova "could lead to another crisis in the IOC’s handling of the scandal -- other Olympic teams will have former drug cheats in their ranks," including U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin. Furthermore, in '11 CAS "came out against the IOC’s Osaka rule, which banned drug cheats from the next Olympics even if their suspension had been served." Efimova’s agent, Andrew Mitkov, said, "We are finalizing our claim in the Court of Arbitration for Sport. After we will file a lawsuit, CAS has to make a decision within 24 hours." One anti-doping expert said, "There seems no way CAS will allow Justin Gatlin to compete but not Efimova -- they will kick this out of the park" (LONDON TIMES, 7/26).
IN THE CLEAR: In Sydney, Chip Le Grand wrote two Olympic sports close to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s heart "have indicated that Russians will be cleared to compete at Rio despite athletes from both sports being implicated in a state-directed doping regime." United World Wrestling, the world governing body for Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, "declared that all 17 Russian men and women athletes nominated for Rio had been drug- tested outside of Russia" -- a key IOC eligibility criteria for Russians to compete in the Games.
Meanwhile, the sport of judo, in which Russia’s President is an enthusiastic amateur, "made clear its support of Russian athletes before the IOC even met to consider a ban" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 7/27). REUTERS reported Putin "will give a personal send-off on Wednesday to a diminished Russian Olympic team who travel to the Rio Games." Putin, who has warned of a split in the Olympic movement and what Russian officials call "creeping political interference" in sport, "will address the Russian team on Wednesday after an earlier scheduled meeting was postponed due to the doping scandal" (REUTERS, 7/26).
ACCESS DENIED: REUTERS' Gene Cherry wrote a Russian whistleblower who helped uncover the biggest doping scandal in decades said that the IOC "is more concerned about protecting the organization than ridding world sport of drugs cheats." A day after the IOC rejected a request by his wife, former Russian drugs cheat Yulia Stepanova, to run in the Rio Games as an independent athlete, Vitaly Stepanov said that "an invite to attend the Rio Games as spectators felt like they were being bought." Stepanov said, "My personal view, from the communications we had with people from the IOC, those people had no interest in clean sport. I got the impression the only thing they cared about, even the person from the ethics department, is protecting the IOC as an organization." Stepanov said that "the invitation to travel to Rio to watch the Games left them cold." He said, "I felt like, 'Are you trying to buy us?' Is that how IOC treats whistleblowers? Make them quiet by giving them IOC accreditation and access to VIP lounges" (REUTERS, 7/25).
