Big Decisions, Little Time for IOC

The extent of Russian doping improprieties has now gone from rumored, to supported, to outright indisputable. What began with the New York Times, German and

Jul 19, 2016 by Willie Saylor

The extent of Russian doping improprieties has now gone from rumored, to supported, to outright indisputable. What began with the New York Times, German and American documentaries, and a blown whistle from a Russian Track and Field star who married a Russian Anti-Doping employee has now been corroborated by several other sources including Richard McLaren, a Canadian law professor appointed to conduct a comprehensive review of the Russian doping allegations. The report includes details provided by Dr. Grigory Rodenchkov, who directed the Moscow laboratory for RUSADA.

That Russian state sports programs condoning doping and tampered with tests is unquestionable. What's left to do is to figure out how to best proceed with sanctions under a pressing timeline; the Olympics begin in 18 days.

The crux of the matter comes down to a comprehensive ban from Rio of all Russian sports, of which the President of the International Gymnastics Federation has said '(blanket bans) never have been and will never be just,' or a ban on sports in which there is evidence of mass and systematic tampering.

The best illustration in this debate might be in a bar graph included in the IOC's McLaren Report, wherein, as you can see, the already-banned Russian Track and Field team had nearly 140 doping samples which 'disappeared' while in RUSADA possession, wrestling having the 5th most on the list with about 30, and gymnastics with no cases.

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In the camp for a blanket ban is the WADA - the World Anti-Doping Administration, iNado - the Institute of National Anti-Doping Agencies, and a coalition that includes the national anti-doping agencies of The United States, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, France, Denmark and Norway.

The Association of summer Olympic sports federations doesn't support a blanket ban but instead prefers handling the situation on an 'individual' basis. The language in AP articles have been a little clunky, but when they write 'individual' basis they mean 'per sport' and not 'per athlete'.

Of course for wrestling, a Russian exclusion would drastically alter the landscape of Rio. While other sports media outlets are publishing 'Best Russians in Jeopardy for the Olympics' lists, doing so in wrestling would be an exhaustive list of their roster; every Russian wrestler is significant, and nearly every one is a medal threat.

If left in the hands of the IOC, United World Wrestling federation President Nenad Lalovic has said, 'we will absolutely follow the decisions of the IOC.'

However IOC could pass the buck, instead putting the responsibilities of sanctioning Russian programs to UWW and other individual sports' federations themselves.

Remember - after massive and irrefutable evidence of tampering in Track & Field, it was the IAAF (the world governing body), not the IOC, who bounced the entire Russian T&F team from Rio.

In addition to the IOC deliberating on the decision to ban on all of Russia or individual sports, these are other sanctions are being applied or considered during a 'provisional measure period' that lasts until December 31 when the IOC will review:

• Russia will not be granted any international events or meetings, including, most notably, being taken out of consideration to host the 2019 European Games

• The IOC recommends the names of the individual Russian athletes whose positive samples were tampered with or mishandled.

What's Next?

On Thursday a ruling will be handed down from the CAS (Court of Arbitration of Sport) which will rule on 68 Russian Track and Field athletes who appealed the blanket ban on the entire Russian T&F team. This could influence how the IOC responds, and many close to the situation thing the IOC will wait until that ruling until they take the next step/s.

Should the CAS uphold the IAAF's decision for a blanket ban, the IOC (and the international governing bodies (like UWW)) are more likely to condemn and sanction the institution of Russian sports rather than feel the legislative pinch of wrong doing to a single athlete.