Putin Calls Athlete Ban ‘Discrimination’

At a Kremlin ceremony to send off Olympic athletes on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out over a ban on Russia’s track and field athletes. “We can’t accept indiscriminate disqualification of our athletes with an absolutely clean doping history,” Putin said, in reference to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s allegations that Russia’s Olympic athletes were part of a state-sponsored doping scheme. “We cannot and will not accept what in fact is pure discrimination,” he said. All of Russia’s track and field athletes, with the exception of one, have been banned from taking part in the Rio Games next month, and Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has been blocked by the International Olympic Committee from attending the games over allegations that he personally oversaw the widespread doping of athletes. While sending off those athletes who have been allowed to participate—fencers, triathletes, and table tennis players—Putin described the ban as part of a conspiracy to make Russia look bad on the world stage. “The situation went beyond the legal field as well as common sense,” Putin said. “It’s a well-planned campaign which targeted our athletes, which included double-standards and the concept of collective punishment which has nothing to do with justice or even basic legal norms.”