Rio 2016 Olympic Games

IOC Decides Against Full Ban On Russian Athletes

IOC Decides Against Full Ban On Russian Athletes

According to the Associated Press, the IOC has decided against a full ban on Russian athletes. Instead, they are leaving it up to the individual sports fede

Jul 24, 2016 by FloElite Staff
IOC Decides Against Full Ban On Russian Athletes
According to the Associated Press, the IOC has decided against a full ban on Russian athletes. Instead, they are leaving it up to the individual sports federations to decide if all Russians in that sport are banned or if they'll remove specific Russian athletes.

The IOC has promised to deny entry to Russian athletes who were banned by their sport's federation.

Here's the updated list of conditions for Russian participation set out by the IOC:

  • ​Each sport's international federation must greenlight each Russian athlete based not only on the absence of positive samples, but also testing outside of Russia. They must also ensure that no one specifically implicated in the report is allowed to attend Rio.
  • No Russian athlete who has ever been sanctioned for doping will be allowed to compete at Rio even if they've already served their sanction.
  • All Russian athletes who do compete in Rio must participate in rigorous out-of-competition testing.

The International Weightlifting Federation has already promised to ban Russia for a year due to failed tests from the 2008 and 2012 Games, but it's unclear when that ban will take place. Now that the IOC has shifted responsibility to the sports federations, we'll soon see a decision come out of the IWF as to which, if any, Russian athletes will be allowed to participate in the 2016 Olympics.