Olympians slam ‘spineless’ IOC

WADA ALSO ‘DISAPPOINTED’ OLYMPICS COULD BE HARMED: AUS GOVT

LONDON: Four-time Olympic rowing champion Matthew Pinsent led a cacophony of British condemnation of the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to ban the whole Russian team from next month’s Rio Olympics.

There would have been little place for the IOC or its president Thomas Bach to hide with the brickbats they received, the IOC being described as “spineless” and Bach being labelled — among other things — “a Pontius Pilate figure”.

Pinsent said the IOC performed a “hospital pass” on Sunday in asking sports federations to decide who from the Russian team could compete in Rio after the revelations of state-run doping directed from Moscow.

“IOC has passed the buck — pure and simple,” wrote the 45-year-old Pinsent in The Times, whilst fellow rowing Olympic legend James Cracknell said the IOC “bottled it”.

Defending Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford also weighed in. “(The IOC’S decision) is a spineless attempt to appear as the nice guy to both sides,” the 29-year-old told the Guardian newspaper.

KREMLIN HAILS DECISION MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Monday hailed the decision not to ban Russia’s entire team from the Olympics, but government officials said the strings attached to the IOC’S ruling were unfair.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said on Monday: “Certainly, we welcome the main decision which allows so-called clean athletes to take part in the Olympic Games, given the permission of international (sports) federations.”

The IOC ruling came with a twist however that angered some Russian government officials, stipulating that any Russian athletes sanctioned for doping in the past would not be eligible to go to Rio.

Alexander Zhukov, the head of Russia’s Olympic Committee, said that smacked of double standards as sportspeople from other countries with a history of doping would be allowed to compete. MONTREAL: The World Anti-doping Agency added its voice to those criticising the IOC’S failure to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics in the wake of doping revelations. “WADA is disappointed that the IOC did not heed WADA’S Executive Committee recommendations that were based on the outcomes of the Mclaren Investigation and would have ensured a straight-forward, strong and harmonized approach,” WADA president Craig Reedie said. MELBOURNE: The Australian government has questioned the IOC’S leadership in the fight against doping and said Russia’s participation risks damaging the reputation of the Olympic movement. Australian sports minister Sussan Ley said: “The fight against doping in sport requires strong international leadership, none more so in this case, where the integrity of an entire Olympic and Paralympic Games is at stake,” via a statement on Monday.