Russia "made it a crime to facilitate doping, devoted more money to drug-testing the nation’s athletes and laid out a plan to establish mandatory antidoping education classes," according to Rebecca R. Ruiz of the N.Y. TIMES. Russia President Vladimir Putin called those changes -- inspired by the threat of major sanctions for systematic doping -- "enormous work based on the principles of clean sport." IOC President Thomas Bach said that "no matter how enormous the pre-emptive measures Russia may take, the nation will not completely stave off sanctions." Bach said, "We have the impression that some in Russia were thinking by addressing the issues for the future, the past would be forgotten. You cannot forget what happened in Sochi. We have made clear that the past -- what happened there -- has to be sanctioned." Bach would not predict the severity of the punishment, citing the continuing work of two Olympic commissions that are "scrutinizing the implicated athletes and government officials." While the IOC opened provisional disciplinary proceedings "against some two dozen of those Russian Olympians and stripped medals from many who competed in prior Olympics, no medals from Sochi have been rescinded" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/21).
SEPTEMBER DEADLINE: REUTERS reported IPC VP Andrew Parsons said that Russia has until September to "prove it has made the necessary reforms" to participate in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. He added that Russia "still had work to do." Parsons: "The Russian Federation and the Russian Paralympic Committee, they know the steps they have to take until September, because in September we have a governing board meeting and in this meeting we can decide if we lift the suspension or not. So, of course if we decide in September that they're not ready to come back as a full member it will be difficult for the Russian athletes to compete in PyeongChang" (REUTERS, 6/22).
