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    Mark Palmer •

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    IOC delays decision on Russian doping, will explore 'legal options' for banning

    Russia and its athletes who were expecting an answer Tuesday as to whether they will be able to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics must now wait even longer.

    The International Olympic Committee announced this morning it would "explore legal options" for banning wrestlers and other Russian athletes -- approximately 400 in all -- from the Summer Games which start in Rio de Janeiro in less than three weeks.

    At an emergency IOC Executive Board meeting in Switzerland today -- just one day after an independent report detailed a systematic and state-run doping program in Russia -- members fell short of an immediate ban but they did issue a series of measures relating to the McLaren Report from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which said Russia had concealed hundreds of positive doping tests from its athletes.

    "With regard to the participation of Russian athletes in the Olympic Games Rio 2016, the IOC will carefully evaluate the Independent Panel [McLaren] Report," the IOC said in a statement issued Tuesday.

    "It will explore the legal options with regard to a collective ban of all Russian athletes for the Olympic Games 2016 versus the right to individual justice," the statement continued.

    It added that the committee would have to take into consideration the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision due on Thursday concerning appeals made by 68 Russian track and field athletes who have been banned from international competition -- including next month's Olympics -- by the International Association of Athletics' Federations (IAAF) over allegations of widespread doping in the sport.

    The IOC also announced these actions on Tuesday:

  • It has started disciplinary action against Russian officials mentioned in the report, adding that anyone implicated would not be given accreditation for Rio;

  • The immediate re-testing of all Russian athletes who took part in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, based on alleged problems with drug tests conducted at that event;

  • All international Winter Olympic Winter Sports Federations must freeze their preparations for major events in Russia;

  • The IOC will not back the European Games, scheduled for Russia in 2019.

    In commenting on the McLaren Report , IOC president Thomas Bach said, "The findings of the report show a shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sports and on the Olympic Games. Therefore, the IOC will not hesitate to take the toughest sanctions available against any individual or organization implicated."

    In a chart revealing the number of positive test results for Russian athletes which disappeared from Russian drug test facilities, wrestling ranked third among Olympic sports -- behind track and field, and weightlifting -- with 28 missing test samples.
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