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Russian, Kenyan athletes face extra doping scrutiny for Olympics

Olympic rings.
Olympic rings.

Athletes from Russia and Kenya who wish to compete in the Olympics are going to have to outrun their nations' reputations for doping. The International Olympic Committee has announced that any athlete from those two countries competing in the Rio Games must be individually evaluated for doping by international federations and certified by their home country's sports federation.

The move comes in the wake of a landmark International Association of Athletics Foundations ban that blocks Russia's track and field athletes from competing in this year's Olympics, the result of what the IAAF terms years of widespread covert doping techniques. Earlier this year, the New York Times detailed the ways in which Russia's state-sponsored athletic association allegedly helped athletes elude doping rules at the Sochi Games in 2014.

Questions of the integrity of both Russian and Kenyan doping oversight programs cast "very serious doubts on the presumption of innocence," IOC president Thomas Bach said on Tuesday morning. That said, he indicated that the IOC is sympathetic to the plight of athletes not participating in doping regimens.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has been among the most strident critics of the IAAF's ban, leveled last Friday, calling it "unjust and unfair." "There are universally recognized principles of law and one of them is that the responsibility should be always personified," Putin said. "If some of the members of your family have committed a crime, would it be fair to hold all the members of the family liable, including you? That is not how it's done."

The IOC will give the athletes the opportunity to prove their innocence, and if they do so, they may compete under the Russian flag. "The position is very clear: we respect this (IAAF) decision," Bach said. "We advised today that athletes and/or the [Russian Olympic Committee] may appeal," Bach said. "This is the good right of everybody. We expect the results of these potential court cases."

Bach affirmed that any Russians competing in Rio would do so under Russia's flag, although the IAAF had said they would be forced to compete under a neutral flag. "When it comes to the Olympic Games," Bach said, "all athletes then are part of the team of the Russian Olympic Committee."

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.