WADA ‘disappointed’ by International Olympic Committee decision on Russian Federation

Russian athletes will be able to compete if they can prove to their International Federation (IF) that they have a clean doping record.

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart said the “IOC has refused to take decisive leadership” in a most important moment for the integrity of the Olympic Games and clean athletes.

“For many of us, sport is something we anticipate in at amateur level, we watch and enjoy and talk about, but for our athletes going to the Olympics, this is something they’ve given their heart and soul to every day”.

Drug Free Sport New Zealand chief executive Graeme Steel also criticised the IOC’s decision to “pass the hot potato to global federations”.

However, Graeme Steel, chief executive of the country’s national anti-doping agency Drug Free Sport New Zealand, was scathing in his assessment of the IOC’s position.

The decision has been endorsed by some national Olympic committees but drew criticism from athletes and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which said it would “inevitably lead to … lesser protection for clean athletes”.

While the Kremlin sees a Western conspiracy behind the ban on their track and field athletes, other competitors see the part-inclusion of Russian teams as undermining the spirit of the Olympics. The International Association of Athletics Federations had originally approved her to compete under a neutral flag, but the IOC overturned that decision Sunday because she had been sanctioned for doping in the past.

But others, including the global governing body for swimming FINA, opposed a blanket ban, as did countries such as Italy and others closer to Russian Federation.

FISA announced in a statement the “first stage” of its executive committee’s decision on Russian Federation, with a “final assessment” to be made on Tuesday following the individual analysis of each athlete’s anti-doping record.

“ANOC commends the IOC for favouring individual justice over collective responsibility and giving worldwide federations responsibility to ensure clean competitions in their sports at Rio 2016”, he said.

WADA said Russian needed to achieve a “culture change”.

Earlier this month, USADA proposed selection criteria to WADA for each sport to follow including a minimum number of out-of-competition tests carried out by a credible agency over the past year and proof that each athlete had been tested for the full range of performance-enhancing drugs.

Evidence of widespread doping in Russian track and field was provided by 800-meter runner Stepanova, who hoped to compete in Rio as an independent athlete.

WADA also joined other anti-doping leaders in expressing concern over the effect of the International Olympic Committee decision.

– said Russian entries must be examined and upheld by an expert from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

GETTYPutin has denied the reports claiming the state put athletes like Stepanova through dopingWill Russia be at the Olympics?

WADA has confirmed that the names of those athletes implicated in McLaren’s Report have been passed over to the respective IFs.

The IOC ruled on Sunday not to ban the entire Russian Olympic team from the participation in the August 5-21 games in Brazil, helping Russian athletes escape a blanket ban.

“This is a very ambitious timeline, but we had no choice”, Bach said.

The decision, announced after a three-hour meeting via tele-conference of the International Olympic Committee’s executive board, came just 12 days before the opening of the Games.

“The seven Russian tennis players who have been nominated to compete in Rio have been subject to rigorous anti-doping testing programme outside Russia, which included a total of 205 samples collected since 2014”.