RUSSIA BANNED
IOC to kick the WHOLE team out of Rio today barring last-gasp fudge
THE International Olympic Committee will today hand down the ultimate sporting sanction by banning Russia from the Rio Olympics.
Just days after a decision to ban Russian athletes from next month’s Games was upheld, the IOC are poised to throw out the rest of their team as a response to the statebacked doping scandal which has rocked sport.
Short of a remarkable late fudge during a phone conference of their executive board this morning, the IOC are set to announce the most momentous decision in 120 years of Olympic sport.
An Olympic insider told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The IOC want to ban Russia to show this is an assault on the whole of sport. That effectively means expulsion from Rio. But Thomas Bach [the IOC president] also wants to give consideration to the rights of individuals.’
It is understood that the IOC will ask the international federations, the bodies responsible for specific Olympic sports, to examine whether potential Russian competitors can prove to a very high standard that they could not possibly have been contaminated by the state-sponsored doping programme. They would then be allowed to compete under the neutral Olympic banner.
There is also a strong call from senior IOC figures to ban the whole Russian team for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Reports in Russia suggest their Olympic committee chief, Alexander Zhukov, has been invited to take part in this morning’s talks in a lastditch bid to avert the possible ban.
It also appeared unlikely last night that a desire among some hardliners to bar every Russian official or grandee from Rio will win majority approval. That would mean Vladimir Putin, as head of state, could attend. The IOC’s hardline stance against Russia’s state-sponsored doping was given the thumbs-up by former British Olympian and commentator Brendan Foster.
He said: ‘All the federations around the world need to take a lead from athletics and make that same decision [as the IAAF} because the IOC’s credibility is on the line.’
President Bach, of Germany, has been told by close associates that today’s decision will define his presidency. One of his dilemmas, as he sees it, is between doing what is right for the sporting reputation of the Olympics, while knowing that acting tough with Russia may splinter the movement.
If today’s phone conference endorses Bach’s plans — a ban with caveats — he could claim to have come down on the side of clean sport ahead of political expediency.