Olympic committee sets up panel to rule on Russian participation

A three-strong International Olympic Committee panel will have the final say on Russian competitors' eligibility for this summer's Rio Games.

The IOC’s executive board met this weekend to assess final preparations in the host city and also rule on the process for approving Russian athletes put forward by their sports’ international federations (IFs).

The IFs were left to decide on athletes’ eligibility after the IOC decided against imposing a blanket ban on Russia following the McLaren Report into state-run doping in the country.

An IOC statement read: "The (executive board) decided to delegate the final decision on the acceptance of entries of Russian athletes to a review panel composed of three IOC executive board members: Ugur Erdener, Claudia Bokel and Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr.

“The review panel is due to make a final decision in the coming days.”

Samaranch Jr is the son of the IOC’s long-serving former president from Spain, who died in 2010. World Archery president Erdener, from Turkey, is the chairman of the IOC medical commission and a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency foundation board, while Bokel is the German chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission.

The panel will receive independent advice from the Court of Arbitration for Sport before making its decisions. Athletes who have already been ruled out by their IF and not granted CAS approval will not be put forward to the panel.

-PA