IOC refuses to issue a blanket ban on Russian Olympic athletes

World Today

IOC refuses to issue a blanket ban on Russian Olympic athletes 1

The upcoming Olympic Games will begin under a weight of issues. A key among them is the controversy surrounding Russia, after a report from the World Anti Doping Agency accused the country of state sponsored drug cheating.

CCTV’s Dan Williams reports.

The IOC refused to issue a blanket ban on competition, leaving the decision to individual federations. It means that more than two thirds of Russia’s initial entry list of 387 athletes will compete at the games.

“I can look into the eyes of these athletes because I have a very clean conscience,” Thomas Bach, IOC president, said. “We have been weighing all the arguments, and we have taken our decision with a very good conscience.”

Russia’s track and field team remains banned along with the country’s weightlifters and 17 Russian rowers, among others. Bach emphasized testing at the games will be rigorous.


Mark Gray discusses Russia at the Rio Olympics

For more about how what will happen to Russia before the Rio Olympics, CCTV America’s Mike Walter interviewed Mark Gray, HSRN & TheShadowLeague.com.


Meet the Olympics’ special Refugee team

There are ten athletes who aren’t just coming to compete for medals during the Rio Olympics, but to represent the plight of some 65 million refugees worldwide. Selected from a short list of 43 refugee athletes who were identified as standouts, these ten are originally from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
CCTV America’s Lucrecia Franco reports.

Having a refugee team in the Olympics is an unprecedented initiative, launched and funded by the International Olympic committee

“A symbol of hope to all the refugees in the world, and it can send a signal to the international community that the refugees are our fellow human beings and are an enrichment to society,” Thomas Bach, president of IOC said.

During the opening ceremony, the refugee team will march in a key position, ahead of the host team from Brazil that is the last one to parade after the athletes of some 200 countries.