The International Olympic Committee was set to decide on Tuesday whether to ban Russia from the Winter Games over evidence of state-orchestrated doping, in one of the most important decisions in the Olympic movement's history. Just 65 days ahead of the Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, IOC president Thomas Bach and his executive board were weighing various options on Russia's possible participation. They include a blanket ban on all Russian competitors, a move that would trigger outrage from President Vladimir Putin's government. But the IOC could choose a more moderate path, where select Russians who have maintained a clean record after rigorous testing would be allowed to compete, likely under a neutral flag.
The decision, expected later on Tuesday, will come just days after the draw for the 2018 football World Cup that will be hosted by Russia and which Moscow hopes will elevates the nation's status as a sporting superpower. Any Russians that may ultimately be cleared to compete in Pyeongchang will have been subjected to unprecedented drug testing, the IOC's medical and scientific director, Richard Budgett, told reporters in Lausanne. Speaking about the IOC's newly enhanced pre-Games testing programme, Budgett said: "Russian athletes have been tested more than any other country by a considerable margin".
He added that IOC will likely have conducted 20,000 separate doping tests on potential 2018 competitors before the Games open, part of an effort to turn the page on an era plagued by damaging doping scandals.
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