TORONTO -- Canadian Olympic Committee president Tricia Smith says the onus is on the IOC to ensure that athletic federations "fully execute their authority" when deciding how to deal with Russian athletes heading into the Rio Olympics.
Smith's response comes in the wake of the International Olympic Committee's decision against enforcing a blanket ban on all Russian athletes despite a scathing report that alleged a government sponsored system of covering up positive doping tests in Russia. Major anti-doping agencies had supported a blanket ban after details of the report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren were released.
The IOC decision essentially offloads the burden of dealing with Russian athletes on individual sports federations, though the international organization did rule that Russian athletes who have committed prior doping violations would be ineligible for the Olympics.
"The imposition of stricter conditions under which Russian athletes may possibly participate at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games -- which addresses the potential for clean athletes who may have been impacted by a blanket ban -- is only a first step," Smith said in a statement released Monday.
"The onus now remains with the IOC to ensure that the International Federations fully execute their authority and the process that has been identified. Vigilance is critical at this time."
Track and field's international governing body has already banned all Russian athletes from the Rio Games, a decision that was upheld last week by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Smith also called on national Olympic committees to be held accountable for their athletes and work toward clean competition.
"All National Olympic Committees must be held accountable and be the standard-bearers for their nations," Smith said. "A diligent and exhaustive process to assess all athletes and participants is critical to clean competition."
