The International Olympic Committee yesterday said it will study "legal options" before deciding whether to ban Russia from the Rio Games over its state-run doping programme
IOC chief Thomas Bach
Lausanne (Switzerland): The International Olympic Committee yesterday said it will study "legal options" before deciding whether to ban Russia from the Rio Games over its state-run doping programme.
IOC chief Thomas Bach
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A damning report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) detailed an elaborate cheating scheme that affected 30 sports with help from the FSB state intelligence agency.
After investigator Richard McLaren released the report, top sport figures from across the globe called for all Russian competitors to be banned from Rio Games, which start on August 5.
IOC president Thomas Bach said Russia's actions were "a shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sports and on the Olympic Games."
He said the organisation "will not hesitate to take the toughest sanctions available against any individual or organisation implicated," including with respect to Rio de Janeiro.
Bach led a phone conference yesterday with the IOC's powerful executive board.
If the panel calls for Russia's exclusion from Rio, it would mark the first time a country has been banned from an Olympic Games over doping.
Russia have already suspended five top deputies, including his number two Yury Nagornykh, described as the point man for running the cheating scheme.
The IOC is now racing against the clock to reach a final position on the status of Russian athletes in Rio. WADA, the German Olympic committee have backed calls for Russia's outright ban from Rio. That would be the first time a country has been banned from an Olympic Games over doping.
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