Full coverage: 2016 Rio Olympics

The International Olympic Committee has decided against banning Russia’s entire national team from next month’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. 

However, athletes wishing to compete will have to fulfill a strict anti-doping criteria. Which athletes get to participate will be left up to individual global sports federations. The decision was met with relief in Moscow. 

The International Olympic Committee has handed the Russian National Team a lifeline to compete at the Rio Olympic Games. Russian athletes wishing to participate will have to show they meet strict standards set out by the IOC. Russia’s Sports Minister is convinced the majority of the national team will meet this criteria.

“The criteria for the Russian national team are, of course, very tough. This is certainly a challenge for our team, but I am absolutely sure that the majority of the Russian national team will meet these criteria,” said Vitaly Mutko, Russian Sports Minister.

Russia had selected nearly 400 athletes representing 30 different sports. They will have to prove they have never been sanctioned for doping before and their international sporting federation will have to decide if they should be allowed to take part in the Games. 

There will also be additional testing. All of this comes after a report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency that said Russia operated a state-sponsored doping program from 2011 to 2015. Russia has promised to restructure its anti-doping procedures.

“Nobody is responsible for our problems. We are responsible for our problems. Our sports officials are responsible,” said Aleksander Tikhonov, former Olympic biathlon champion.

The WADA investigation, lead by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren, concluded Russian anti-doping experts and members of the Russian intelligence service secretly replaced urine samples from medal winners containing banned substances with clean urine during the 2012 Sochi Winter Games.  

Olympic sport is source of national pride for Russians, and both summer and winter Games are very popular.

While many in Russia will be relieved at the IOC’s decision, a lot of work lies ahead to shake up the anti-doping system. Despite stopping short of a complete ban, the IOC did reaffirm the decision by the International Association of Athletics Federations to not allow the Russian track and field athletes to compete in Rio.