IOC sets up 3-person panel to rule on Russian entries

“This blanket ban of the Russian Olympic Committee has been called by some the “nuclear option” and the innocent athletes would have to be considered as collateral damage”, Bach said.

In general, athletes who need explosive speed, raw power and great endurance are more likely to be flagged – think track and field, weightlifting and rowing.

In an address received in silence but for relatively brief applause as he retook his seat, Bach described the findings of the McLaren Report as “very serious, in particular with regards to a system of doping allegedly orchestrated by the Russian Ministry of Sport”.

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – The global sports tribunal raced Monday to decide appeals by Russian athletes against their ban from the Rio Olympics with the opening ceremony just four days away. “The cynical collateral damage approach is not what the Olympic movement stands for”, said Bach. “This vision of a better future for and through sport is what needs to guide us”.

“Engagement and not isolation is the key to build a more robust anti-doping system”, he said.

The call was supported by several national anti-doping agencies in the United States, Canada and Germany among other as well as by some athletes groups.

The Scottish head of Wada argued that a 2015 commission found no concrete evidence that the Russian state was manipulating the anti-doping process, and it was not until May this year that a former director of Russian anti-doping laboratories exposed the regime.

The doping claims, though, aren’t limited to the Sochi games. Since then, 117 of the initially nominated 387 Russian athletes have been banned, with some decisions still outstanding.

Ruggiero won a hockey gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, along with silver medals at the 2002 Salt Lake City and 2010 Vancouver Games, and bronze in Turin in 2006. “On the other hand, we can not deprive an athlete of the human right to be given the opportunity to prove his or her innocence”, Bach said.

“The basic and hard question we had to answer is – can you hold any athlete responsible for the wrongdoing of the government of his or her country?” “These principles are now being implemented”.

More measures will follow after the Olympics, once the report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, is completed by law professor Richard McLaren.

The move comes amid a doping scandal that has led to the exclusion of more than 100 Russian athletes connected to state-sponsored cheating.

A string of appeals against bans already imposed on Russian competitors also threatened to derail the launch of Rio 2016, the build-up to which has been marred by fallout from arguably the worst drugs scandal in history.

So there you have it. The IOC has let down clean athletes.

“We have been informed yesterday by the organizing committee that they are still working on a balanced budget”, Bach said.

The IOC’s president yesterday insisted it was not to blame for the unprecedented shambles, declaring it the fault of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada). It delegated individual sports to take action against athletes from the country. The eligibility status for the remainder of Russia’s Olympic delegation has yet to be determined, but is expected soon.

The Summer Olympics open Friday and run through August 21.

Tourists take pictures of an exhibition displayed at the promotional center of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 31, 2016.