IOC set to weigh total Russian ban

Doping scandal takes focus as Rio Games to begin next month

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 15member 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 statedirected doping — a decision upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The United States is n sending 292 women to the Summer Olympics — the most women who have ever competed at an Olympics for a single country. The U.S. Olympic Committee officially announced its 555-person team Saturday. Three 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 and Venus Williams.

Don’t expect Chris n Froome to indulge in big celebrations on the Champs Elysees. After effectively securing a third Tour de France title, the Kenyanborn British rider has already turned his focus to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Froome, a bronze Olympic medalist in the time trial four years ago in London, will once again be among the favorites in the race against the clock in Brazil.

For the first time under n Mike Krzyzewski, the U.S. Olympic basketball team has a genuine offensive weapon in the middle: DeMarcus Cousins. The Americans might even have the best center in the world.

Cousins had 14 points and 15 rebounds in just 16 minutes of the Americans’ exhibition opener, a 111-74 victory over Argentina. The Sacramento Kings star can score inside and out. “DeMarcus is going to be a force in Rio,” teammate Klay Thompson said.

The center spot has almost been an afterthought on recent U.S. teams. Then again, none had a “bulldog” like Cousins, as Kevin Durant called him.

Ready or not, the Rio n Olympics are opening their doors. The Games begin in just over two weeks, but the Athletes Village opens officially on Sunday, meaning 10,500 athletes and another 7,000 staff members will start trickling in, with the pace picking up daily until the opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium.

The 31-building compound is set among tennis courts, soccer fields, seven swimming pools and topped off by a massive diningkitchen compound as large as three football fields.