IOC decision on Russia for Winter Games still on hold

LONDON The president of the International Olympic Committee insisted no decision will be made about Russia’s participation in the Pyeong Chang Winter Games until two committees investigating doping allegations against the country are through with their work.

Thomas Bach spoke Friday after the IOC executive board’s meeting with leaders of track and field’s governing body.

Allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia first arose within the track team. An investigation led by IOC member Dick Pound revealed IAAF leaders conspired with Russian officials to cover up doping positives. That led to a revamp of the IAAF, establishment of an independent anti-doping unit and the suspension of Russia’s track team, which the IAAF council extended this week.

Nineteen Russians cleared of wrongdoing will compete at the world championships, which began Friday, as neutral athletes.

Asked if he would like to see Russia banned from the upcoming Olympics, Bach — who advised against a full Russian ban for last year’s Rio de Janeiro Games — said: “I cannot prejudge the results, recommendations and decisions of our two commissions and the IOC executive board. This will depend very much on their work, so the rest would be speculation at this point.”

The IOC opted against a blanket ban of Russia for Rio, even though evidence pointed to doping corruption in other sports. Instead, the IOC allowed each sport to determine who would be eligible. Even with the track team banned, 271 Russians competed in the Summer Games and combined for 55 medals.

Since then, another investigation has revealed even more corruption — including the swapping of tainted samples with clean ones through a hole drilled at the testing lab at the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

The IOC has two commissions reviewing evidence provided by Richard McLaren, whose own investigation stemmed from the Sochi Games and found more than 1,000 athletes covering 30 sports benefited from Russia’s doping program.

Bach said the IOC is in a different circumstance than the IAAF, because corruption in track and field involved the federation’s own leadership.

The Associated Press