IOC facing crucial decision on doping
As the clock ticks down to the Opening Ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, international Olympic leaders are facing a seminal moment.
With the credibility of the fight against doping on the line and the image of the Olympic movement at stake, the IOC will hold a crucial meeting Sunday to consider whether to ban Russia entirely from the Rio Games because of systematic, state-sponsored cheating.
Short of a blanket ban, the International Olympic Committee could leave it to individual sports federations to decide on a case-by-case basis whether to allow Russian athletes in their events.
The doping crisis represents one of the Olympic movement’s biggest challenges since the boycott era of the 1980s, and how it plays out may well define Thomas Bach’s IOC presidency.
The IOC’s ruling 15-member executive board will meet via teleconference to weigh the unprecedented step of excluding Russia as a whole from the Games. Bach and others have spoken of a need to balance “individual justice” versus “collective punishment.”
Time is of the essence, with the Games set to open in Rio on Aug. 5.
Russia’s track and field athletes have already been banned by the IAAF, the sport’s governing body, following allegations of state-directed doping — a decision that was upheld Thursday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Calls for a complete ban on Russia have intensified since Monday when Richard McLaren, a Canadian lawyer commissioned by the World AntiDoping Agency, issued a report accusing Russia’s sports ministry of overseeing a vast doping program of its Olympic athletes.
McLaren’s investigation, based heavily on evidence from former Moscow doping lab director Grigory Rodchenkov, affirmed allegations of brazen manipulation of Russian urine samples at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, but also found that state-backed doping had involved 28 summer and winter sports from 2011 to 2015.
Bach said the findings showed a “shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sports and on the Olympic Games” and declared the IOC “will not hesitate to take the toughest sanctions available against any individual or organization implicated.”
Another arrest: Authorities have arrested another man suspected of belonging to a group that allegedly discussed carrying out attacks during the Olympics, Brazilian police said Saturday.
The Federal Police Department said in a brief statement posted on its website that the man turned himself in Friday night in the central-western state of Mato Grosso. No further details were provided.
On Thursday, Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes announced the arrest of 10 Brazilians who police said had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and discussed on social media the possibility of staging attacks during next month’s Games.
Strong U.S. women’s squad: The United States is sending 292 women to the Summer Olympics — the most who have ever competed at an Olympics for a single country.
The U.S. Olympic Committee announced its 555-person team Saturday. Three members of the team are making their sixth Olympics: equestrian Phillip Dutton and shooters Emil Milev and Kim Rhode. There are seven athletes making their fifth Olympics, including Michael Phelps, Bernard Lagat, Kerri Walsh Jennings of San Jose and Stanford; and Venus Williams.
At the London Games four years ago, the U.S. sent 269 women and 261 men, marking the first time the country was represented by more females than males.
Dutton is the oldest U.S. Olympian at 52. There are four 16-year-olds: Kanak Jha of Milpitas (table tennis), Laurie Hernandez (gymnastics), Sydney McLaughlin (track) and Laura Zeng (rhythmic gymnastics).
Track and field: Britain’s Mo Farah cruised to victory in the 5,000 meters and Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce fell short in a sluggish sprint at a London Diamond League meet in contrasting fortunes for the Olympic champions in their final races before heading to Rio de Janeiro.
Farah dominated the field to finish in 12 minutes, 59.29 seconds. Fraser-Pryce ran the 100 in 11.06 seconds to finish third. The race was won by MarieJosee Ta Lou of Ivory Coast with a personal best of 10.96, with Michelle-Lee Ahye of Trinidad and Tobago 0.03 seconds adrift.