Some athletes from Russia will be allowed to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, provided they demonstrate their innocence of an elaborate government-sponsored doping scheme, Olympics officials announced Sunday.
In a ruling issued 12 days before the start of the Rio de Janeiro games, the International Olympic Committee said “all Russian athletes seeking entry to the Olympic Games Rio 2016 are considered to be affected by a system subverting and manipulating the anti-doping system.”
“On the other hand, according to the rules of natural justice, individual justice, to which every human being is entitled, has to be applied,” the ruling continued. “This means that each affected athlete must be given the opportunity to rebut the applicability of collective responsibility in his or her individual case.”
The IOC said the “presumption of innocence” cannot be extended in this case and, as such, any Russian athlete who has previously been sanctioned for doping will not be allowed to compete in the 2016 games.
Athletes who prove their innocence and are admitted to the games will be subject to an additional round of rigorous drug testing. Decisions about which individual athletes will be allowed to compete in the games will be left to the independent federations that govern each Olympic sport.
Russian officials have forcefully denied accusations of widespread, government-sponsored doping, but a report released by the World Anti-Doping Agency last week corroborated the claims.
The report was commissioned after Russian whistle-blowers alerted officials of an intricate doping conspiracy facilitated by the government.
Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of Russia’s anti-doping lab, told The New York Times in May he had covered up steroid use by Russian athletes at the 2014 Sochi games under orders from and with the help of the government.
He said he worked nearly every night of the Sochi games with members of the Russian intelligence service to swap out athletes’ tainted samples of urine with clean ones.
“It was very serious work — deliberate, structured, the best hands in Russia,” Dr. Rodchenkov told the New York Times.
And 800-meter runner Yuliya Stepanova, along with her husband, provided evidence of widespread doping in track and field to the IOC.
Under the ruling issued Sunday, though, Ms. Stepanova, who has been branded a traitor by Russian officials, will not be allowed to compete in the Rio games, because she previously served a doping ban.
Travis Tygart, leader of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, was critical of the IOC’s decision, saying the committee passed the buck by refusing to take decisive action in the case.
He also told the Associated Press the decision not to allow Ms. Stepanova to compete was “incomprehensible” and will discourage future whistle-blowers from coming forward.
IOC President Thomas Bach said the ruling attempted to find a balance between Russia’s collective responsibility for the doping and justice for the individual athletes.”
This may not please everybody on either side,” Mr. Bach told the New York Times. “But still the result today is one which is respecting the rules of justice.”
The decision comes as a minor victory for Russia, after speculation that the IOC would impose a blanket ban on all 387 Russian athletes set to compete, in which case the Russian flag would not have flown at the games.
Russia minister of sport Vitaly Mutko responded positively to the announcement, saying under the criteria that a “majority” of Russian athletes will be able to compete in the games.
Other Russian officials expressed disappointment in the IOC ruling. Although the Russian Olympic Committee said it would not appeal the ruling, committee head Alexander Zhukov said he still does not agree with it. He told the Associated Press that “we don’t have time enough” to appeal the decision.
Some Russian athletes apparently ruled out from the games include swimmer Yulia Efimova, the current world champion in the 100-meter breaststroke, weightlifter Tatyana Kashirina, who won a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics, and Olga Zabelinskaya, a bronze medal-winning cyclist, all of whom have previously been sanctioned for doping.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.