LAUSANNE, Switzerland, (Reuters) – Individual Russian track and field athletes assessed as clean will be able to compete for their country in Brazil, the Olympic Games’ top official said yesterday, diluting a blanket ban the sport’s global federation had called for.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach also said all competitors from both Russia and Kenya would, given their countries’ recent history of doping, have to be screened individually before being allowed to participate in the Games.
He did not elaborate on what the evaluation would include.
The Russian track and field team remains suspended from Rio de Janeiro after the IOC supported the ban, for systemic doping, which world athletics federation IAAF had extended on Friday.
But Bach, speaking at the end of a summit on doping, offered a limited number of Russian athletes the chance to race under their flag.
In a decision welcomed by the sports ministry in Moscow, he said those cleared by the IAAF or the Court of Arbitration for Sport as clean and eligible would be able to compete in Brazil.
The unsatisfactory record of anti-doping bodies in Russia, as well as Kenya, had put “very serious doubts on the presumption of innocence” of their athletes, Bach said.
But they had the right of appeal and “if there are (Russian) athletes qualified then they will compete as members of the Russian Olympic Committee team,” he told reporters.
The IAAF had said on Friday that any Russian athlete would have to compete under a neutral flag, a recommendation it reiterated yesterday following Bach’s comments.
“This decision has been unequivocally supported across sport and the IOC Summit today unanimously agreed to fully respect the IAAF decision,” the federation said in a statement.
