Russia’s hopes of persuading the International Olympic Committee to let its athletics team compete in Rio look set to be dashed at a summit in Lausanne today.
On Friday, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) voted unanimously in Vienna to uphold a global competition ban on Russia’s athletics federation that has been in place since November.
That unprecedented sanction was imposed after an 11-month World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigation uncovered systemic doping within Russian athletics.
Russian athletes and politicians reacted with fury to Friday’s vote, with sports minister Vitaly Mutko saying the IAAF should be disbanded and two race walkers immediately filing cases against the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
And with the IOC having already announced its “Olympic summit to address the difficult decision between collective responsibility and individual justice”, many observers had expected Olympic chiefs to dilute the punishment.
But that was before a statement on Saturday from the IOC’s executive board that said: “The IOC welcomes and supports the IAAF’s strong stance against doping.
“This is in line with the IOC’s long-held zero-tolerance policy.”
It continued to say the board held a teleconference to discuss the decision, noting the report made by the IAAF’s task force in Russia that outlined just how much work was needed before the sporting superpower could be trusted again.
IOC’s position
The IOC’s 16-member board, which includes president Thomas Bach, WADA president Sir Craig Reedie and CAS president John Coates added that the “eligibility of athletes in any international competition including the Olympic Games is a matter for the respective international federation”.
This last point effectively closes another door for Russia, as it had hoped its political muscle could secure a more lenient sanction from the IOC, particularly as Bach and others were believed to be more sympathetic to their case.
But this optimism ignored the legal strength of the IAAF’s carefully constructed decision and the erosion of support for Russia at the IOC as fresh doping scandals have emerged.