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Anti-doping groups condemn IOC

Anti-doping groups condemn IOC

Global anti-doping bodies have accused the International Olympic Committee of selling-out and undermining clean athletes by rejecting calls for a complete ban on Russia at the Rio Olympics.

Citing the need to protect the rights of individual athletes, the IOC decided against taking the unprecedented step of excluding Russia's entire team over allegations of state-sponsored doping.

Instead, the IOC left it to 27 international sports federations to make the call on a case-by-case basis.

"Every human being is entitled to individual justice," IOC President Thomas Bach said after the ruling.

Bach said the IOC had instead decided on "very tough criteria", including banning all Russian athletes who have ever had a doping violation, whether or not they have served a ban.

And only athletes who have passed tests conducted outside Russia will be authorised to compete.

But World Anti-Doping Agency President Craig Reedie said the organisation is "disappointed that the IOC did not heed WADA's executive committee recommendations" after investigators "exposed, beyond a reasonable doubt, a state-run doping program in Russia that seriously undermines the principles of clean sport."

The Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations described it as "a sad day for clean sport."

Joseph de Pencier, chief executive of the 59-member body, said the IOC "failed to confront forcefully the findings of evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russia corrupting the Russian sport system."

US Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart said the IOC refused to take decisive leadership.

"The decision regarding Russian participation and the confusing mess left in its wake is a significant blow to the rights of clean athletes," Tygart said.

Russia's track and field athletes were already banned by the IAAF, the sport's governing body, in a decision that was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said the majority of Russia's team complies with the IOC criteria, and estimated "80 per cent" of the team regularly undergoes international testing.

Calls for a complete ban on Russia intensified after Richard McLaren, a Canadian lawyer commissioned by WADA, issued a report accusing Russia's sports ministry of overseeing a vast doping program of its Olympic athletes.

McLaren's investigation affirmed allegations of manipulation of Russian urine samples at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, but also found state-backed doping had involved 28 summer and winter sports from 2011 to 2015.

"An athlete should not suffer and should not be sanctioned for a system in which he was not implicated," Bach said, acknowledging the decision "might not please everybody."

"This is not about expectations," he said. "This is about doing justice to clean athletes all over the world."

Asked whether the IOC was being soft on Russia, Bach said: "Read the decision. ... You can see how high we set the bar. This is not the end of the story but a preliminary decision that concerns Rio 2016."

Tygart, however, questioned why the IOC "would pass the baton to sports federations who may lack the adequate expertise or collective will to appropriately address the situation within the short window prior to the Games."

Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov promised the IOC full cooperation with investigations and guaranteed "a complete and comprehensive restructuring of the Russian anti-doping system."

He issued a strong plea against a full ban.

"If you treat the cancer by cutting off the patient's head and killing him, do you consider this as a victory in the fight?"

The measures are still a blow to Russia, which finished fourth on the medal table in London.

As well as the ban on track and field athletes, who won seven gold in London, the Russian team will be missing several medal hopes because of the ban on those with previous doping violations.

The IOC also stipulated that Russian entries must be upheld by an expert from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Russian athletes who compete in Rio will be subjected to a "rigorous additional out-of-competition testing program."