Olympic doping controversy - Refusal to ban Russians a cop-out

THE decision by the International Olympic Committee not to impose a blanket ban on Russia for next month’s Rio Games over the nation’s doping record diminishes the modern Olympics movement, insults the thousands of clean competitors taking part, and endangers the health of Russian athletes.

The world governing body’s ruling 15-member executive board met yesterday via teleconference and decided that responsibility for ruling on the eligibility of Russian competitors remains with the international federations.

This means that the IOC has deemed it prudent to leave decisions on individual athletes’ participation with the international bodies governing their particular sport. This is a nonesense as those organisations have neither the capacity nor the inclination to decide which athletes should be included and which should not.