The International Olympic Committee will not issue a blanket ban on Russian athletes hoping to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games and will instead leave the decision up to individual sporting federations, the IOC confirmed in a statement.
A damning World Anti Doping Agency report released earlier this week alleged a complex system of subterfuge that involved Russia's security services tampering with and altering sealed urine samples. Ref. CNN.
The International Olympic Committee has confirmed that 271 Russian athletes have been cleared to take part in the Rio Olympics and 118 have been banned.
It's a victory for a nation that the independent World Anti-Doping Agency slammed for having what it called a state-sponsored doping program. Critics had called for the entire team to be banned to show that systematic cheating is unacceptable.
The Games begin on Friday. Ref. CNN.
Russia banned from sports for four years over latest doping scandal. The Russian flag and anthem will again be absent from the Olympic Games next summer after a ruling handed down by World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday. Ref. USAToday.
Caught in a doping scandal, Russia has been stripped of its key identifying markers like a flag or a national anthem. Russia, in fact, isn’t officially competing in Tokyo as a country. Its athletes are competing as ROC, for the Russian Olympic Committee. Source 6p.