The IOC’s doping decision raises the white flag of surrender to cheats two weeks before the Rio Olympics

Eleven days from now, an athlete in Rio will step forward to swear the Olympic Oath and we will be expected to applaud.
The chosen one will make a promise on behalf of all those competing in the XXXI Olympiad to respect and abide by the rules which govern them.

An assurance that athletes everywhere will commit themselves to a sport “without doping and without drugs in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams.”
Until Sunday, that person had half a chance of a fair hearing.
The IAAF, athletics’ governing body, had banned Russia’s track and field stars from Brazil after evidence of systematic and state-sponsored doping was discovered.
In pictures — The kits Team GB stars will be wearing to compete in Rio:

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The Court of Arbitration for Sport had backed the decision and the World Anti-Doping Agency, together with leading athletes, were urging Olympic chiefs to impose a blanket ban.
But on what Sir Matthew Pinsent termed a ‘dark day’ all that promise turned to dust when the International Olympic Committee chose to pass the buck .
Instead of acting decisively for the good of these Games and to send a zero tolerance message to future generations, the IOC asked each of the 28 sports under its umbrella to make up its own mind on the most damning report against a nation in sporting history.
It was a kick in the teeth for those waging the fight against doping , particularly Russian whistle-blower Yulia Stepanova who risked everything to expose the dirty tricks in her homeland.

Stepanova looked set to compete in Rio but won’t, although many who expected to be banned will

Her reward was to be told that her invitation to compete in Rio had been withdrawn whilst fellow countrymen and women, who had expected to be banned, suddenly learned there was a plane ticket with their names on.
More confusing still, whilst the IOC declared that no Russian athlete who has ever failed a drugs test is eligible, the same does not apply to, say, US track stars Justin Gatlin and LaShawn Merritt.
So what are we left with?
Utter chaos and, quite possibly, irreparable damage to the credibility of what was once the greatest show on earth.

Gatlin has failed a drugs test but is free to run, unlike Russians in the same situation

Not to mention a punch to the solar plexus of the anti-doping movement, for too long under-valued and under-funded – now undermined.
What a chance this was for a ‘ground zero’ Games, for a line to be drawn in the sand beyond which we could be assured that things would be different.
Instead we await that oath, those hollow words and a clear sense that we’ve been here before – and, in all probability, will be back here again.

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