a neutral flag they will participate under the name elim picked athlete from russia with the country's anthem and symbols banned from the games. so we'll put the super eight between individual or team competitions under the name olympic athlete from russia with the acronym. they will compete with the uniform. and. the olympics will be played. ok well joining us live now is and this. press conference that took place this evening nasser just run through them the key takeaways of what was said. well the key takeaway is that unfortunately for russia clearly a decision that is seen as quite upsetting it will be banned from the upcoming winter olympics in the south korea just two months from now games coming up that

individual clean athletes from russia will be able to participate in the upcoming games however without being able to carry the russian flag or here the russian or where russian uniform all of which are seen as obviously traditionally quite important aspects of the olympic games for any athlete from any country so russian that are deemed clean will be able to partake in the upcoming games in chang however as you said they will be titles olympic athletes from russia they will hear the olympics. and will have to. participate under the olympic flag certainly something that's seen as quite upsetting for those athletes that are going to be participating as i said now this is not just the only measure that's been implemented here in the us and today we also know that any official from the russian ministry of sports will not be accredited for the upcoming games we know that the then minister of sports back at the time of the olympics of twenty

fourteen as well as his deputy are banned from any participation in all future olympic games the russian olympic. committee president alexander superfit is suspended as an i.o.c. member and also the international olympic committee here has decided to put a ban hefty fine on russia of fifteen million u.s. dollars for the sort of efforts of the investigation that was carried out reading up to this decision that said it's important to note that the i.o.c. has said that these may partially or fully be lifted from the commencement of the closing ceremony of the olympic winter games and twenty teams provided these different decisions are fully respect to the been implemented by the russian olympic committee and by invited weeds and officials so we shall see how all of this some rivals obviously there's been lots of discussion about what kind of reaction would come from russia and what this would mean in the longer run in this time leading up to the olympic games. ok thanks and this is

a that was. a press conference this evening. a decision twenty five russian athletes had already been banned from participating in the games by the commission which examined their cases many of them have been stripped of their medals toppling russia from the top of the salt she twenty fourteen medal table the move shattered the athlete's dreams and ambitions. that's what's been the. possible for someone to do it up to someone for a new more efficient if you do this to do that you just make it so. difficult for the school to look at feet.

instead of the biggest issue you know. and that's the reality and it does get good position on the front but she still. has the fire hoses built in the seats available it's right in the force of this condition. and it's just getting. the support options of since. to force them to do a political developments in the us now before us just exposed to this what the feel of it isn't better than the sort of course cuts cooked on a slow walk down that is not just for us a little bit in the middle of us the biggest of services involved all of that of a lead balloon that's a mild smoke and it's a potent a lot of it in this world for choice and for you. now in the run up to tonight's i.o.c. meeting there has been intense pressure for a total ban on same russia antidoping officials and even athletes from other

nations have been demanding a full suspension of the country russia denies the existence of a government sanctioned scheme call me unprecedented actions already taken by the i.o.c. is politically motivated the doping scandal is triggered back in twenty fifteen by the mclaren report published by a canadian lawyer however that argument meant to prove widespread and state backed doping violations are still being questioned over it supporting evidence. the damning mclaren reports on alleged state sponsored doping in russia has led to many athletes being stripped of their meadows and others prevented from taking part in major events including the olympics however a few things in the report just don't add up before we break them down it's worth noting that the international olympic committee itself was not satisfied with the evidence in a letter to richard mclaren the i.o.c. ostrom more conclusive proof the document was covered with the phrase how to

demonstrate that almost every athlete's name moreover it was admitted by wada but in many cases the evidence provided may not be sufficient to bring successful cases dr richard mclaren's findings were issued in two pods they claim that over a thousand russian athletes were involved in a state sponsored doping program let's meet the report's star witness. the former head of a moscow anti doping lab he's facing charges over destroying test samples. and the e-mails presented as proof of state involvement come from his own computer. russian sports officials deny the allegations but did richard mclaren consider to get their side of the story i'd made a decision that with fifty seven days to do my work i didn't have the time and they didn't seem to have the interest so i didn't do that that came after the first part of the report issued in july twenty sixth. the second came six months later so the

investigative team did eventually meet with some russian officials but not by. the sports minister at the time of the alleged undercover doping scheme. with. the central allegation of mclaren support is that positive year in samples were systematically swapped for clean ones on top of that it describes how so. unless cafe granny was added to clean samples to make the match dirty worms and tricks attached to. that information came courtesy of. another question this raises how do you swap the samples of a high security parcel which is swiss manufacture it guarantees can't be tampered with richard mclaren doesn't have an answer on how the russians did it he just says it can be done and that's enough to have seen it i've seen it done and i'll be inspected it can be done it can be reinserted we don't know how the russians did it

but we know they can be done but despite all the questions and doubts over mclaren's evidence russian athletes are being punished on an unprecedented scale i hope that we will be able to see some evidence for what they are being punished and that is not that there are some marks on the bottles because then i would be terribly afraid of giving samples. to say we can get the thoughts now that david larkin he's a media and anti corruption attorney so do you see what he thinks about all of this david good evening to you what do you make then of the decision this evening. well i think they split the baby we've got. now numerous reports that suggest something is gone terribly wrong in the administration or russian anti-doping we had now have multiple findings that something is terribly wrong and so i think the i.o.c. decision today was about right i mean what we've we've talked about now for many

months is the presumption of innocence for russian athletes and that still holds i mean we've got. today a decision that that bolsters the idea that people like. deputy prime minister bhutto needs to lost the credibility of the international sport community needs to resign his role at the world cup as well as he's now banned at the i.o.c. i mean these are not good things for russia going forward and so i think mr mood go needs to resign his role at the world cup and let other people take us forward russian athletes deserve the benefit of the doubt and the i.o.c. is preserved if they're going to allow them. to basically have their day in court we want to monitor that that's fair. but i think he's trying to make the best out of bad situation you should rest at the feet of people people like mr root go just

on that point david things really have a clear chance of competing if they're clean because previously when they've been told you can compete as a new triathlete they being a young they've been training all their lives in russia they haven't been able to go outside the system and prove that that you know they claim to how on earth could they do it in this situation to you on the face of it it looks good but i mean the still means i think the innocent people won't be able to compete doesn't it in some cases. well that this is what we're going to have to look look at more closely this is the issue and i've been worried about for a very long time that is that wada its customers were russian athletes who had supposed to protect were russian athletes what it didn't do was protect russia now fleets i don't care about the administrators to be frank i'm not worried about any of them who i care about are the russian athletes we have allegations into reports that suggest that some are shanab fleet's have tried to cheat the system where

those bases are handed out there are appropriate however we should also look at the allegations more seriously now now that we have a second finding that russian coaches may have been involved in the intimidation of russian athletes into the doping that there is a system in place where russian i mean there are allegations that russian athletes are basically threatened into doping these things are terrible they should be taken very seriously and you know these people like all of pope all of you should take the lead on these things she was one of the first whistleblowers say you know what something's wrong here he's a guy who the russians would turn to italy happening then efforts is this happening now with the fact that they've tried to sort of comply with the wada code you know they couldn't i mean if you were a coach and you knew about hunting at drugs you go to jail i mean that's far more than happens in other countries think so i know you addressing these concerns but don't you think that russia has taken steps to put that sort of house in order.

while they listen they had u.k. aid in the house but the impetus and sort of the burden has always been on russia going forward to get their house back in order i think we're going to see how that measures up and like you it's too early for you or i to kind of look at the oswald process and determine whether russian athletes are being judged fairly or not we're going to wait to see how this sort of plays out a little bit more to get a better handle on whether a russian athletes are getting a fair shake here today should should be a reminder we've now had two or three reports that say that something has gone terribly wrong in russian anti-doping and we can agree that mr red chunk of is not the person we should rest all our faith in because we both know that the allegations even of mr mclaren even of mr pound suggest that he is in some terrible things but when you have extraneous evidence that bolsters the narrative the

bolsters the idea that there is evidence that something terribly has gone wrong then we need to look to people like mr mood go and say mr mood go your role here for russia natalie whatever happened your credibility in the international sport world is now gone it would be best if you resigned and moved on and let russia nath leitz and russian athletics have a new day but he's no longer the sports minister but as you said he's on the committee for there will come a point. he didn't mention state sponsored ping at this conference i mean it was sort of conspicuous by its absence in the blame is light at the door of the sports ministry and the organizing on the russian olympic committee wada says that russia doesn't comply with its code because it doesn't admit to state sponsored. right listen i thought that those premature water to do we can throw some rocks and water

as well ok i'm not a huge fan of water up to this point in time what i do think is appropriate was to wait for the schmidt commission whose entire purpose was to determine whether or not there was in fact an orchestrated effort to pervert doping at the social effects of the entire purpose of. their job was to make that call that call was made today let's see what the report says clearly the report says that something was terribly terribly amiss in russia david is that even here in the studio here i'm going to pick up on one he said about the so-called state sponsored doping program in now russia they've been awarded to pay fifteen million dollars for its paws russia's repeatedly denied state sponsored taping and in fact if we look at some of the outcomes of you know they cleared ninety five out of ninety six of the russian i need to have very stepping on occasions in that particular report what's your opinion what do you think russia should do at this stage should they comply.

or shouldn't they now i think i think russia now has a huge burden and yet a big opportunity. look to people like all of pop of mr pop of is the first person to speak up and say something is terribly wrong if you want credibility in international sports let mr pop of take the lead let him take care he you know look he's a guy who quite clearly cares about us leads he's a guy who quite clearly is looking out for russian athletes ok let's take all of the politics all the controversy aside let's look internally in russian sport for people of goodwill who have international credibility all papa is that guy and people like him. yeah i mean we can also look at some of the sports officials have been banned for life from attending any elim picked games what do you think about

that and do you think that is the right thing to do is it a step too far or do examples need to be made. i think in situations like this. i have not looked at all the evidence of the schmidt commission because it's been published. but let's let's do a big picture analysis here something in russia went terribly wrong and whether they were complicit or ignorant or whatever the administrators who oversaw this program. in the way in which it went off course should be held responsible and they should be removed from the process i think that's the it and look they should do it for selfless reasons this isn't about them this is about russian sports and russian athletics and the well being of these athletes that's who we should focus on and that's who schwab should focus on that's who i don't think they focused on enough when this whole thing went went sideways and papa was speaking out in two thousand

and twelve to wada i don't think that's who per se was looking out for i don't think i mean a lot of people feel russian athletes here and russian athletes or the people we care about there are watches customers there are these russian sports administrators they're their customers let's care about the russian athlete first and that everybody else can sort out their job after that. again david she sandri she's picking up on what you say i mean i'm keen to stress and i feel strongly about this to you but a new for lot has been done in eighteen months two years to try and put russia's has a new a new officials have been appointed zero people have been withdrawn and i from the first report that came. before me so it's not as if i know you might say that could be more effective people in charge but it's wrong to say that you know nothing's been taking place it has been and that's been part of russia's frustration because it feels it has made steps not much credit. i agree and i think that's

the you know what we're trying to find here is the truth and through this sort of politicized process. we're always trying to figure out what's objectively true i think when we keep our eyes on you know forget all the extremes that stuff ok let's keep our eyes on the ball here. who are the people we should care about innocent russian athletes were any of their colleagues are found to have been doping let's ban him for life because guess what they're only harming more innocent russian athletes the people anybody in this entire process should ever care about are innocent russian athletes and they number one they exist and number two they've been victimized and bullied through this process and that is outrageous and that's what's got to change and you're right russia is on the road to coming back but

there's a long way to go and just finally david on that point of lifetime bans for drug chases not fair for russia i mean it's unprecedented you got justin gatlin teton drug cheat he turns up at the next olympics. it's a fair point and you know you look at what what we learned about what fancier was saying about t u e's being a method of doping right and then you learned what sky was doing go up they basically admitted that were used for all intents and purposes doping so let's not you know live in a world where russia is all bad in the us world is all good the truth lies in the middle let's keep fighting for it ok david really good to tilt you appreciate it i was david luck in sport media and anticorruption attorney thank you. thank you ok let's remind you about the decision on team russia the international olympic committee says russian athletes can only compete andra neutral flag they will

participate under the name and then pick athlete from russia with the country's flag and symbol of bond from the games the russian olympic committee has been suspended with immediate effect. well the olympic chief did come to the decision after hearing the findings of more than a yearlong independent investigation into alleged state sponsored doping in russia the probe headed by the former swiss president samuel schmidt found evidence of the systematic manipulation of the anti doping rules and system for mind you the international committee says that russian athletes can only compete now under a neutral flag at the upcoming winter games they will participate under the name a limb pick from russia with the country's flag and symbols banned from the games ahead of the russian olympic committee earlier said that russia would not accept this option president putin also said that such an outcome would be humiliating for the country. there are two options either for some russia to compete under a neutral flag or not letting it go to the olympics or talking either is

a humiliation for the country. after the world anti-doping agency laid out a road map for russia in twenty sixteen the country acted swiftly with a number of strong measures it reformed the structure of russia's own anti drugs agency and allowed international experts to take control of its test it also made doping a criminal offense punishable with a jail sentence the law only currently imposed by a handful of european countries restart a med eighteen out of twenty criteria saying it couldn't meet the final two as it denies any government run doping program ever existed but last month water still found the russian agency non-compliant the head of water denied the decision was political but did say sport cannot exist without politics it's a sort of. impossible dream isn't it because it fits. to. the structure of little. boy such comments may be at odds with

perhaps the most important document in sport the elliptic charter it clearly states that there can be no political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes. well it is only the only does believe the entire story. does have political overtones. political games go in bird wide not only in sport but all areas and this is only one for set of the whole picture in sports they are trying to put russia on the wall. you see. pressure against sea and i think this makes clear that it is political that volatile and that is the bad thing because war is an institution that should protect clean athletes and what they are trying to do is the opposite we all know.

sports is always used by politicians to. make they feel bad make the country look bad or that that is clear that is known for for many centuries already but but now it has become a new quality of the attacks or only against one country in the last year it's only they talk about russia but they are all the countries who do. for example not respect human rights or all of those things and nobody talks about them joining us now in the studio is trying to even across the story obviously where does this decision leave the russian athletes now well of course the main question right now is whether the russian asked. whether they will accept the being able to compete in the counting olympics under

a neutral flag it is going to be a tough decision it does of course depend on the individual athletes but you may like it or not the decision will be influenced somehow by russian olympic officials that will convene very soon and. they will produce some kind of statement on that surely if russia chooses to boycott the games in this case this will be a direct result of this ruling by the i.o.c. executive board and we understand that the i.o.c. probes are under way still and already more than two dozen russian athletes have received life bans when it comes to competing taken part in the olympics and more could be coming up questions have already been raised in the russian media among russian experts along the lines why do the athletes that test positive and doping

from other countries why did they get banned for several years yes that does sometimes room careers completely but what's happening here is that these people the russian suspects are receiving lifetime bans just to remind you the reasons why russian libyans are being disqualified are the scratches on doping test bottles and also the excessive amounts of salts that were fall and in clean doping samples and according to the odyssey officials and also the teams that were investigating this a human body cannot produce these amounts of salt but then is that enough to blame the individuals is that enough to produce the lifetime bans that i was telling you about and of course is that enough to strip the russian athletes of their right to carry the russian flags during the winter olympics some of the other questions that were asked by officials in russia the experts and the athletes that we've been

talking to it's always about the transparency one of the things that was brought up during the press conference when mr schmidt was talking again the transparency can you actually show some of these experiments with these bottles how they can. open how they can be tampered with the scratches of course are also something very important here so i believe that when we receive more reaction from russian officials from the athletes they will keep talking about these kind of things that are very important for team russia and for all the fans of course in this case now i just want to look at some of the reaction from international sport officials we already got some from the british sports minister he tweeted out the following he says that he's pleased that the i.o.c. has taken this decision let me just continue looking at it it's an important step in protecting the integrity of sport and gives confort to our athletes that are

competing on a level playing field that's end of quote from tracey crouch the british sports minister the president of the german olympic sports confederation said that it's a good day for international sport and a good day from jorm and sport so as we can see at least from the german side and from the british side they are supporting this decision by the international implemented yeah i mean listening to a lot of mixed reactions on me because you know on the one hand it's a great decision the clean athletes can compete but the identity is lost and that's going to be the question is coming up now you've just come back from korea and this is what reaction did you get over there well of course the country is gearing up for the winter games and i was in seoul that's not the capital of the winter olympics twenty eight saying but of course many people will be going through soul people from seoul the fans are expecting to see the games there and in general i

can tell you that people told me that it's a surprise for them most of them never even heard about the russian doping scandal and most people told me that they will meet miss sorry team russia if it ends up being banned from twenty meeting let's have a look at to how let's have a look at how i talk to these people on the streets of seoul. south korea first bid to become the whole of winter olympics almost sixteen years ago in two thousand and eight young chang lost to russia's saw cheap but south koreans hung in there and eventually did manage to make their dream come true. but at the had over ceremony and saw it she who would have thought that russia a winter sports powerhouse could end up missing out on the games in four years no washing flags in korea in two months what the locals missed them.

have you heard about the russian doping scandal no i haven't heard. i don't know about is this a repeat yes i. have never heard this on the lack of any stripe but i i heard just some medicine yeah her face i don't know that it's true each kind of. what do you think the winter olympics would be like without russia. to bring a little bit for us as the strongest country. but i. feel people have just like. the international soccer game spain the you know and it's not really a game when the biggest player is not there and we don't get into the rice that. i

think it's unfair. that just well this is going to be found on the winter olympics but no russia. than a whole country that's so few political stuff. to try and go in the south korean capital which is looking forward to the country's first ever winter olympics that will happen without team russia let's just remind you that a bad decision on team russia the in. the national olympic committee this evening said that russian athletes can only compete under a neutral flag at the upcoming winter games they will participate under the name olympic athlete from russia with the country's flag and symbols banned from the games the russian olympic committee has been suspended with immediate effect. the olympic games came to the decision after hearing finally there's more than a year long independent investigation into alleged state sponsored doping in russia the probe headed by the former swiss president samuel schmidt.