London, Aug 4:
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today defended its stance on Russia despite being criticised for baulking at calls to ban the country outright from last year’s Rio Olympics over doping.
Russia was accused in a World Anti-Doping Agency report last year of widespread state-sponsored doping. Its athletics team was barred by the IAAF from the Rio Games and will also miss the IAAF World Championships that get under way later Friday.
But there was no blanket ban for Russia in Rio, the IOC coming under fire for instead allowing individual sports federations to decide which Russian athletes could compete.
IOC president Thomas Bach insisted that the IAAF was a special case, outlining the “collusive cooperation” Russian elements had enjoyed with the disgraced former IAAF president Lamine Diack and other corrupt people at the heart of track and field.
Russia “was discussed, it was raised”, Bach told a press conference in London alongside current IAAF president Sebastian Coe, who initiated the ban on Russia and resultant reforms within global track and field’s governing body. (Agencies)
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