Recent calls to ban Russian athletes from competing in this summer’s Olympic Games in Brazil have been quashed. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced the team is good to go for the games in Rio de Janeiro.
A ban on Russian athletes was possible due to allegations that evidence of state-sponsored doping of Russian athletes exists.
According to a report on npr.org, the IOC is now calling on sports federations to conduct assessments on all individual athletes on the Russian team, to see if they are fit to compete.
Any Russian athlete with a previous doping infraction is being barred from competing in this summer’s games. All others, however, will be permitted but must undergo additional, out-of-competition testing to ensure that they are clean before they compete.
IOC President Thomas Bach said in a teleconference with NPR reporters on Sunday that the decision is an attempt to balance “the desire and need for collective responsibility versus the right to individual justice of every individual athlete.”
“This may not please everybody on either side,” Bach said, “but still, the result today is one which is respecting the rules of justice and which is respecting the rights of all the clean athletes all over the world.”
In June, the International Association of Athletics Federations decided to ban all Russian athletes from competing in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro due to allegations of state-sponsored doping.
An independent investigation found that cheating by doping was deeply rooted in Russian competitive athletics.
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