At the summit of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today in Lausanne, Switzerland, leaders addressed the issue of Russian track and field athletes’ participation at the Olympic Games due to the systematic doping allegations and the most recently released findings by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission.
Heading into the summit, Russia said it would not entirely rule out a nationwide ban of the Rio Olympic Games in response to what it deems is a ‘very dirty, illegal and unfair war’ waged against its athletes.
When asked about a potential Russian boycott, Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated yesterday, June 20th, “Let us wait until the [IOC] summit in Lausanne is over. I can only say that nobody is interested in the development of such precedents. But beyond all doubt, we intend to defend the interests of our sportsmen, those sportsmen not associated in any way with doping use.”
The IOC reiterated after the summit that they ‘fully respect’ the decision by the IAAF, but asked that athletes have their eligibility considered on an individual basis. A statement released by summit leaders today read, “The Olympic summit considers the ‘presumption of innocence’ of athletes from these countries being put seriously into question. As a result, every IF [international federation] should take a decision on the eligibility of such athletes on an individual basis to ensure a level playing field in their sport.”
IOC President Thomas Bach said, “If there are athletes qualified, then they will compete as members of the team of the Russian Olympic Committee because only a national Olympic committee can enter athletes to the Olympic Games.”
He continued that, “There are no teams of international federations there. And the Russian Olympic Committee is not suspended.”
So, the entire team is suspended…but not really at all. Politics suck.
How do,you find whole is eligible is all testing in Russia was handled by a corrupt lab?