The entire 387-person Russian team will be banned from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, according to reports being made by The Mail on Sunday.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) are reportedly set to hand down a judgement that will see all members of the Russian team banned as a result of the nation’s state-sponsored doping program.
The story of Russian doping has been emerging more and more over the past two years, with reports that the government sports ministry gave players illegal substances and covered up positive drug tests results on an large scale.
This is believed to have occurred extensively during the London 2012 Olympics and it had been reported that more than 600 positive drug samples have been covered up, at a minimum.
The IOC has already moved to ban Russia’s track and field team but it now seems that the nation will be prevented from competing in any facet of the Olympics.
Some Russian athletes who train outside of Russia and have not worked with the government’s sports ministry may still be allowed to compete at the games, if they successfully plead their case.
The Mail on Sunday is reporting that it was told this by an ‘Olympic insider’:
“The IOC want to ban Russia to show [doping] is an assault on the whole of sport.
“That effectively means expulsion from Rio. But Thomas Bach (the IOC president) also wants to give consideration to the rights of individuals.”
There have also been calls to ban all Russian athletes from the 2018 Winter Olympics, to be held in South Korea.
The decision, if it does indeed come to pass, will be a significant moment in the history of the Olympic games.
With less than two weeks to go before the games begin in Rio in August 5, it appears there is still much more of this story left to unfold.
G
Guest
Yet Great Britain and US finish above Russia in the last Olympics.... And what about the report out last year about the amount of dodgy blood values of British athletes pointing towards high levels of doping... What about the complete lack of out of competition testing of Jamacian athletes and the number of them that have tested positive... Hypocrisy much!
jarijari
Guest
A salient lesson for The Roar: don't ever pick up a yarn from the Mail and regard it with any credibility. No-one else did, apart from a handful of rogue websites. It was so obviously not going to happen and the outcome from the toothless tigers at the IOC was so predictable.
spruce moose
Guest
AP are saying not banned.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Many mixed rumours going around. British tabloids reporting Russia will be banned, Russian state media reporting the opposite. None possess any credibility in this. Decision might be less than 30 away.
jameswm
Roar Guru
The ones who have been training and competing overseas can plead their case. The rest can be banned. Some innocents might (and might not) get caught up in it, but the point has to be made.
Avatar
Roar Guru
Ouch. Will be interesting to see how things unfold in the next couple of hours. If all of Russia are banned from the Games then this will be the most unprecedented punishment in the event's 120-year modern history. And it will also be unfair to those who are purely clean as well.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
WOW big news if it does happen.
AZ_RBB
Guest
IOC to meet at 9pm Sydney time. Decision expected by midnight Sydney time. As the article notes, this is a massive moment in Olympics history. Regardless of the decision, there will be a lot of angry people.