IOC rules Russian whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova out of Rio

Whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova will not be allowed to compete at the Rio Olympics following a decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board regarding the participation of Russian athletes at the Games.

Track and field athletes remain unable to compete for Russia at the Rio Olympics following a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision to uphold the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) suspension of the Russian athletics federation from IAAF membership. That prevents athletes from competing for Russia in international events.

On Sunday (July 24) the IOC decided against imposing a blanket ban on Russian athletes’ involvement in other sports at the Games, despite the recent publication of a damning World Anti-Doping Agency-commissioned report revealing the findings of an investigation into doping cover-ups in Russian sport.

This leaves it down to the governing bodies of each individual sport to decide whether Russian athletes should be allowed to compete in their sport at the Games.

When announcing its decision, the IOC also stated that any Russian athletes who have ever been sanctioned for doping may not be entered by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), even if the sanction has already been served.

The suspension of the Russian athletics federation as an IAAF Member has been in place since last November and it came after a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Commission report detailed findings including a “deeply rooted culture of …

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