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IOC board to review Rio final preparations, Russia doping

Less than a week before the opening of the Olympics, IOC leaders will meet in Rio de Janeiro this weekend to review the final preparations for the games and deal with the fallout from the doping scandal that has led to the exclusion of more than 100 Russian athletes.

The International Olympic Committee’s ruling executive board opens a two-day meeting on Saturday, its last formal gathering before next Friday night’s opening ceremony at the Maracana stadium.

The meeting comes less than a week after the IOC board decided not to ban Russia’s entire team from the games because of state-sponsored doping. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said Friday that, so far, 272 of the country’s athletes had been cleared by international federations, out of an original team of 387.

More than 100, however, have been barred, including the track and field team banned by the IAAF and more than 30 other athletes rejected under new IOC eligibility criteria.

The IOC has been roundly criticized by anti-doping bodies, athletes groups and Western media for not imposing a total ban on Russia. Pressure for the full sanction followed a World Anti-Doping Agency report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren that accused Russia’s sports ministry of overseeing a vast doping conspiracy involving the country’s summer and winter sports athletes.
Bach has defended the decision as protecting individual athletes from collective punishment.

Rio’s preparations, meanwhile, remain clouded on several fronts, including budget cuts, raw sewage that pollutes the sites of rowing, sailing, canoeing, open water swimming and triathlon, slow ticket sales, and concerns over crime and the Zika virus. The games come with the president awaiting an impeachment trial and the country gripped by a severe recession.

The Australians and at least eight other Olympic teams complained this week about their accommodations in the athletes’ village, citing plumbing leaks, electrical faults and dirty conditions. On Friday, Australian athletes and staff had to be evacuated from their building after a small fire broke out in the basement. They returned safely after about 20 minutes. 
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