If this turns out to be Thomas Bach's defining moment, here's what the leader of the International Olympic Committee will be remembered for: keeping Russia as part of the club, but losing the trust of thousands of athletes who thought that, maybe this year, they'd get the answers they've been looking for.
In a way, the IOC and its president may have saved the Games As We Know Them, with their decision Sunday not to ban the entire Russian team from the Rio de Janeiro Games. No less than Russian President Vladimir Putin was making references to the potential fracturing of the Olympic movement if his country was kicked out completely.