No ban for Russia at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

The executive board of the International Olympic committee did not set a blank ban for Russia at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

The case concerning the possible doping affair within the registered Russian delegation participating at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games comes to an end. The executive board of International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided yesterday that all Russian athletes are considered to be affected by the state-run doping system which manipulates the anti-doping system internationally accepted. In order to participate on the upcoming Olympics they will have to convince the particular sports federations in their innocence. Individual sports federations will be thus the instances that will decide whether Russian athletes can compete or not on the summer Olympics.

The history of the doping accusation against the Russian athletes

As online sportsbooks in EU note, the doping allegations against the Russian athletes started back in 2014, when German media announced that almost all Russian athletes are guilty of doping. The accusations were soon checked and on 13th of November 2015, IAAF banned the Russian Athletic Federation from further participation on international athletic meeting.

The Canadian professor Richard McLaren further supported the accusation by claiming that from the period between 2011 and 2015 Russia used a state sponsored doping program. These accusations were reviewed yesterday on the meeting of the executive board of the International Olympic committee. However, no blank ban was issued.

• No blank ban for Russian athletes at the Rio 2016
• IOC’s decision is being widely criticized
• Putin considers the accusation to be politically motivated

More demands instead of a ban for Russia at the Rio 2016 

The decision of IOC’s executive board allows the participation of Russian athletes under the condition they prove themselves innocent in front of the individual sports federation. Several federations already decided to prevent their participation on the Olympics. Thus, the field and track athletes are already banned by the IAAF. 

On the other side the International Tennis Federation confirmed that all of the Russian players registered for the Olympics have passed rigorous international doping tests, proving to be negative. Sites dealing with bet on sports in US state that out of the 387 competitors in the Russian delegation probably only those suspended by the IAAF will be missing on the Olympics, while all the others will have the chance to compete.

The politics behind the Olympics

After the announcement of the decision the IOC president Thomas Bach stated that IOC “set the bar to the limit by establishing a number of very strict criteria which every Russian athlete will have to fulfill if he or she wants to participate in the Olympic Games Rio 2016”. As internet betting sites in Russia report, he also expressed his belief that with this decision IOC balanced on the one hand, the desire and need for collective responsibility versus the right to individual justice of every individual athlete ."


The decision of IOC was immediately criticized, not only by sport institutions but also political ones. The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) stated that the IOC had "refused to take decisive leadership" while Tracey Crouch, UK Sports Minister, claimed that after McLaren's proofs the sanctions on Russia had to be stronger.

From the Russian side, the Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko described the decision of IOC as objective tho „very though“ while the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, still considers the accusations for doping manipulations by the Russian doping-agency as politically motivated. Their aim, according to him is to only undermine the reputation of the country due to their opposing on one of the most expensive doping programs in history.