International Olympic Committee Declines to Impose Blanket Ban on Russian Athletes for Rio Games (July 24, 2016) [1]
On July 24, 2016, the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board decided [3] not to issue a blanket ban on Russian athletes for the upcoming summer games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Instead, each sport’s international governing authority will determine whether a particular Russian team or athlete is allowed to compete. The IOC decision states that Russian athletes may participate in the Rio games provided they meet strict anti-doping criteria, do not have a history of doping, and undergo “rigorous additional out-of-competition testing program[s].” Russian athletes seeking to participate must be cleared by their respective sport’s federation before the games begin on August 5. The IOC board convened in response to a 2015 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report [4] which found that Russia operated a state-sponsored doping program from 2011–15. According to reports [5], numerous members of Russia’s team have already been banned by their respective governing authorities.