Who can take the IOC at its word(s) any more?

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Who can take the IOC at its word(s) any more?

The International Olympic Committee’s Sunday decision to let each sport’s international federation determine which Russian athletes will be eligible for Rio has been seen as (pick a word): shameful, fair, hypocritical, righteous. . .pass, punt & kick.

The IOC is not the only party worthy of criticism in its handling of the state-supported doping program Russia put in place after its poor performance at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Certainly, Russian sports officials, coaches and athletes deserve the loudest excoriation (please don’t try to tell me all these athletes were innocent pawns.)

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On Russia doping ban, it's an Olympic family feud

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On Russia doping ban, it's an Olympic family feud

Is there really an internecine battle going on between the international federation that governs the flagship sport of the Olympics, track and field, and the International Olympic Committee, which governs the Olympics?

Or is that federation, the IAAF, just grandstanding?

Those are among the questions without answers – and there are many such questions – after the IOC once again expressed its support for the IAAF’s actions in the Russian doping mess but refused to accept the most symbolically significant of those actions.

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Will IOC back track federation's Solomonic decision to exclude Russia but allow some Russian athletes in Rio?

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Will IOC back track federation's Solomonic decision to exclude Russia but allow some Russian athletes in Rio?

A baker’s dozen thoughts about the international track and field federation council’s unanimous and quasi-Solomonic Friday decision to extend its ban on Russian athletes in that sport through the 2016 Olympics yet leave a path for some to compete in those Rio Summer Games:

1.  The ultimate resolution of this issue was always going to be up to the International Olympic Committee, even if the Olympic Charter leaves eligibility issues up to each sport’s international federation. 

2.  In a Tuesday meeting, the IOC will discuss “collective responsibility and individual justice.”  Translated, that means IOC President Thomas Bach must weigh how much he is willing to anger Russian President Vladimir Putin, a great financial friend of the Olympics, against the avalanche of criticism that would follow a IOC action to water down the international track federation (IAAF) ruling.

And more....

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