WE’LL HAVE FINAL WORD ON RUSSIANS

IOC panel to rule on athletes’ eligibility

Athree-strong International olympic Committee panel will have the final say on russian competitors’ eligibility for this summer’s rio games.

the IoC’s executive board met at the weekend to assess final preparations in the host city and also rule on the process for approving russian athletes put forward by their sports’ international federations (IFs).

the IFs were left to decide on athletes’ eligibility after the IoC decided against imposing a blanket ban on russia following the McLaren report into staterun doping in the country.

But an IoC statement read: ‘the (executive board) decided to delegate the final decision on the acceptance of entries of russian athletes to a review panel composed of three IoC executive board members: Ugur erdener, Claudia Bokel and Juan Antonio samaranch Jr. the review panel is due to make a final decision in the coming days.’

however, according to IoC president thomas Bach, the doping crisis that has left russian athletes and their rivals in limbo only days before the opening ceremony has not harmed the games’ credibility.

Bach (right), who also refused to offer a view on Vladimir Putin’s shameless attempts to deny any wrongdoing in his country, was not prepared to agree that there was a problem.

‘I don’t think this event will be damaging,’ said the german. ‘I trust people will realise the difficult situation we are in. We did our best to address the situation in a way to protect clean athletes. ‘the IoC is not responsible for the timing of the McLaren report,’ Bach added in defending his organisation, before explaining that the panel would now review the recommendations for each russian athlete from the experts appointed by the Court of Arbitration for sport. ‘We need to resolve the situation before the games start and then, afterwards, we will have more time to analyse the situation and study it with a certain distance,’ he said.

Bach is known to enjoy a close relationship with President Putin and he was asked directly yesterday if his leniency was a result of pressure from his russian political allies.

‘no, I haven’t been talking to any russian government officials since the publication of the McLaren report,’ he insisted.

he did say there would be 4,500 urine tests and 1,000 blood tests conducted during the rio games.

‘It’s all coming together,’ he said. ‘We are looking forward to a great games in rio.

‘there will, as always, be some last-minute challenges but we’ve seen that this can be addressed by our hosts.’

never mind the 250 russians still unsure as to whether or not they are participating just a few days before the games.