Russia and nine other countries should have been excluded from last year’s Olympics in China, as should all of the participants in five disciplines – but the International Olympic Committee chose to ignore its own charter on doping.

“Sometimes there are powers in the sporting world that are stronger than the rules,” says Denmark's Sports Analysis Institute Director Henrik Brandt.

Strict rules ignored
The Olympic Charter determines that a country which has not implemented the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) codex is barred from sending athletes to the Olympic Games. At the same time, IOC rules determine that a discipline, whose international organization does not follow the same codex, is also barred from taking part.

Rule 44 of the IOC Charter states clearly that: “The World Anti-Doping Code is mandatory for the whole Olympic Movement.”

Rule 46 adds: “The choice of all sports for the programme, as well as the determination of the criteria and conditions for the inclusion of any sport in the programme, falls within the competence of the Session. Only sports that adopt and implement the World Anti-Doping Code can be included or remain in the programme.”

Had the IOC rules been followed, a total of 2,000 athletes would not have been able to take part in the Beijing Olympics.

An as yet unpublished report from WADA shows that five global sporting associaitions and ten countries were allowed to take part, despite the fact that they have not implemented the codex. This means that many athletes were not subjected to the same strict controls as other participating nations.

“It is shameful that the implementation of the WADA codex is going so slowly. The IOC seems to have ignored the fact that so many have not lived up to the codex,” says Danish Sporting Associaition Chairman Niels Nygaard.

Handball, Volleyball, Gymnastics
Had the IOC followed its own rules, some of the larger disciplines such as handball, volleyball and gymnastics would have been excluded. Similarly, countries such as Russia, Bulgaria and North Korea would not have been allowed to send athletes to Beijing. Overall, the 10 countries concerned received 93 medals at the Beijing Olympics.

“In principle there should be sanctions against those who do not fulfill the WADA codex. According to the IOC Charter they cannot take part in the Olympic Games,” says an internationally respected anti-doping expert Dag Vidar Hanstad of the Norwegian Sports College.

IOC: Deadline May
The International Olympic Committee has declined to comment on the issue, apart from a brief written response from its spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau:

“All international associations that have not implemented the codex, have until May to do the necessary and the IOC is certain that they will succeed,” says Moreau.

The IOC, however, knew three months before the Beijing Olympics that the anti-doping rules had been violated. Minutes from a meeting in WADA’s organizing committee in May 2008 show that senior IOC members were presented with a previous report. One set of minutes says that the IOC is aware of the problems. Nonetheless there were no consequences for the countries or disciplines concerned.

WADA says that it is up to the IOC to impose sanctions.

“The IOC was given all the relevant material,” says WADA Spokesman Frédéric Donze.

Exclusion would help
Head of Secretariat at Anti-Doping Denmark Finn Mikkelsen says it is ‘frustrating’ that so many countries and disciplines still have not implemented the WADA codex, but are still allowed to take part in the Olympics.

“The IOC has the ability to impose sanctions and bar someone from the Olympics. If they used their powers, it would work,” says Mikkelsen.

See World Anti-Doping code 2009 here

See IOC Charter here