WADA President Craig Reedie called on the IOC to decide "at the earliest possible date" whether to "throw Russia out" of next year's Winter Games, according to Ben Rumsby of the London TELEGRAPH. Reedie "stopped short of demanding the rogue nation be banned" from the PyeongChang Olympics, despite being part of the WADA exec board which called for it to be expelled from Rio 2016. The IOC "refused to expel" Russia from the Rio Games after it was found guilty of state-sponsored doping in an "explosive report." But the publication of the second part of that report by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren in December "resurrected the prospect of such a punishment being imposed." Opinion "hardened against Russia" across the sporting spectrum amid its ongoing denial of responsibility at the state level for a program from which McLaren found 1,000 athletes benefited (TELEGRAPH, 3/29). In London, Sean Ingle reported "in many cases it has been difficult" for WADA to "establish individual guilt, which has led some to suggest that the country’s athletes should again be punished collectively" for the behavior of the Russian state, as they were for last summer’s Paralympics in Rio. When this was suggested to Reedie, he admitted, "That’s the argument that will become ever more apparent. I think steps could be taken now which would allow the International Olympic Committee to make a decision and preferably make it at the earliest possible date, in fairness to the Winter Games, the world’s athletes and the federations themselves" (GUARDIAN, 3/29).
