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LAUSANNE, July 19, 2016 – Following an emergency meeting of its Executive Board, the IOC has issued a statement on the aftermath of the McLaren report, which confirmed allegations of long-term state-sponsored Russian doping.
“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 organisation implicated,” IOC President Thomas Bach said immediately after the report was published on Monday.
A statement by the World Anti-Doping Agency followed soon after, outlining its clear recommendation that Russia and all of its athletes should be banned from the Olympic Games in Rio – ‘collective responsibility’, to use a term of Thomas Bach.
While many expected a neutral, delicate stance from the IOC, despite the McLaren report rocking the very core of sports integrity – yet again, Tuesday’s statement brought words of carefully stated encouragement for those who have called for the IOC to step up and take a harsh stance – even an unprecedented one, and act on the “zero tolerance policy” it so likes to quote.
“With regard to the participation of Russian athletes in the Olympic Games Rio 2016, the IOC […] 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.”
This was followed by assurances that no action will be taken before Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has its ruling on Russia’s track and field athletes and the IAAF on 21 July.
What seems to be more and more likely though, it that the Russian flag could not fly at the Olympic Games in Rio, an outcome that seemed as close to impossible just weeks ago.
The IOC has organized its own Disciplinary Commission chaired by Guy Canivet which will “start disciplinary actions” against the Russian Ministry of Sports and all those names in the McLaren Report. It was also made clear that no Russian Ministry officials would be granted accreditation to the Rio Games. This means, that for the second day in a row, all fingers have been pointed at Russia’s Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko.
The IOC’s ‘immediate reactions’ to the McLaren Report have been to remove its backing from any upcoming international sporting events to be held in Russia. A direct mention was given to the EOC’s 2019 European Games. The competition that may have come to mind first for many though is the FIFA World Cup, set to be held in Russia in 2018. The head of the Organizing Committee is, who else, Vitaly Mutko, who also sits on the FIFA Executive Committee.
The full statement by the IOC is below:
Today, the IOC Executive Board (EB) expressed its appreciation of the work of the “Independent Person” (IP), Mr Richard McLaren. The IOC fully supports his request to continue and finalise his work, in particular since so far the “compressed timeline of the IP investigation did not permit compilation of data to establish an anti-doping rule violation” (IP Report page 4).
The International Sports Organisations will now have to evaluate the IP Report and then take the appropriate measures, according to their respective rules.
1. This means for the IOC that, following Rule 59 of the Olympic Charter, the EB has today started disciplinary actions related to the involvement of officials within the Russian Ministry of Sports and other persons mentioned in the report because of violations of the Olympic Charter and the World Anti-Doping Code. To accelerate this procedure, the IOC EB has established a Disciplinary Commission and has, following Bye-law 1 to Rule 59 of the Olympic Charter, delegated the task of establishing the facts and granting the hearings required by Bye-law 3 to Rule 59, and by natural justice.
As members of this Disciplinary Commission the following people have been appointed:
Guy Canivet (Chair) (Vice-Chair of the IOC Ethics Commission and former member of the French Constitutional Court)Robin Mitchell (Vice-Chair of the IOC Medical and Scientific Commission, Member of the IOC Ethics Commission)Yang Yang (Athletes’ representative on the IOC Ethics Commission)Andrew Ryan (Executive Director of ASOIF)Wolfgang Schobersberger (Representative of the International Winter Sport Federations, Member of the FIS Medical Commission).
The Commission can refer to any external expertise and support to fulfil its mandate.
2. With regard to the participation of Russian athletes in the Olympic Games Rio 2016, the IOC will carefully evaluate the IP Report. 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. In this respect, the IOC will have to take the CAS decision on 21 July 2016 concerning the IAAF rules into consideration, as well as the World Anti-Doping Code and the Olympic Charter.
3. Given the urgency of the matter the IOC EB has already taken the following provisional measures:
The IOC will not organise or give patronage to any sports event or meeting in Russia. This includes plans for the European Games 2019 organised by the European Olympic Committees (EOC).The IOC will not grant any accreditation to any official of the Russian Ministry of Sport or any person implicated in the IP Report for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad Rio 2016.
The IOC will initiate reanalysis, including forensic analysis, and a full inquiry into all Russian athletes who participated in the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 and their coaches, officials and support staff. For this purpose, a specific Disciplinary Commission is set up under the chairmanship of Mr Denis Oswald. Following the report of this Commission, the IOC EB will impose all the appropriate sanctions.
Because of the detailed references to the manipulation of samples during the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 the IOC asks all International Olympic Winter Sports Federations to freeze their preparations for major events in Russia, such as World Championships, World Cups or other major international competitions under their responsibility, and to actively look for alternative organisers.
The IOC asks all IFs for a full inquiry and, in case of implication in infringements of the World Anti-Doping Code, sanctions against Russian National Federations by the respective IF. Such inquiries should be coordinated with the work of the IP, Mr Richard McLaren.
These provisional measures apply until 31 December 2016. They will be reviewed by the IOC EB at its meeting in December 2016.
4. The EB reiterates and supports the measure already announced by the Olympic Summit on 21 June 2016 to reverse the “presumption of innocence” of athletes from Russia with regard to doping. This means that the eligibility of each Russian athlete will have to be decided by his or her International Federation (IF) based on an individual analysis of his or her international anti-doping record. The EB also took note of the actions already being undertaken by the IFs in cooperation with WADA with regard to targeted international tests of Russian athletes in accordance with the declaration of the Olympic Summit.
5. In this context, the IOC asks WADA to extend the mandate of the IP, Mr Richard McLaren, to communicate the names of Russian athletes implicated in the “Disappearing Positive Methodology” and the alleged manipulation of the doping tests performed by the Sochi laboratory to the respective International Federations and, where appropriate, to the IOC, in order to allow them to take swift action.
6. Since, for the IOC as an international non-governmental organisation, the Russian Ministry of Sports and its subordinated organisations such as the Center of Sports Preparations of National Teams of Russia (CSP) and the Russian Federal Research Center of Physical Culture and Sport (VNIIFK) are beyond its reach, it will forward the results of its inquiries to UNESCO and WADA to take further measures and sanctions in application of the UNESCO “Convention against Doping in Sport“ and the World Anti-Doping Code.
7. The IOC EB notes with great concern the deficiencies revealed by the IP, Mr Richard McLaren, in the fight against doping. Therefore the IOC reiterates the call of the Olympic Summit on 21 June 2016 to fully review the anti-doping system by requesting WADA to convene an “Extraordinary World Conference on Doping” in 2017. The Olympic Summit on 8 October 2016 will propose further measures in this respect. This will include proposals to clarify and increase transparency of the respective responsibilities in the fight against doping; the accreditation and supervision procedures of WADA accredited laboratories; and the WADA “International Standards for Laboratories” (ISL).The IOC is reinforcing the request issued by the Olympic Summit on 17 October 2015 to make the entire anti-doping system independent from sports organisations.
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