Extra doping scrunity for Russia, Kenya before Rio: IOC

LAUSANNE, Switzerland: All potential Olympians from Russia and Kenya must face added scrutiny before being cleared to compete in the Rio Games because of suspicions about their country’s anti-doping programmes, IOC executives said on Tuesday.

“The presumption of innocence” of athletes from both countries had been put seriously into question, the International Olympic Committee’s executive panel said following a special summit aimed at keeping drug cheats away from Rio de Janeiro.

The broad condemnation from the powerful IOC panel of the two nations came as the August 5 start of the Games loomed with the IOC seeking to tame a series of raging doping scandals.

Russia’s entire track and field team has already been banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), following revelations of massive, state-sponsored cheating.

But the IAAF left a window slightly open, saying individuals who definitively prove they were not tainted by the Russian system could still compete in Brazil.

IOC president Thomas Bach dismissed suggestions from the IAAF that Russians could appear under a neutral or Olympic flag rather than their own. “Any Russian athlete cleared by the IAAF will compete as members of the team of the Russian Olympic Committee,” he told reporters after the summit.

Speaking after the meet, Bach detailed fresh consequences of Russia and Kenya being declared non-compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

He said the absence of a positive drug test from inside those countries should not be considered “sufficient” evidence that an athlete is drug free.