Pressure intensified Wednesday on the International Olympic Committee in the midst of one of the largest sports doping scandals ever when anti-doping leaders from 14 nations called upon IOC President Thomas Bach to deny Russia’s Olympic Committee and its athletes from competing in the upcoming Rio Olympic Games.
In a letter obtained by USA TODAY Sports, the anti-doping officials asked Bach to “provisionally deny entry to all Russian athletes,” but also offered a significant opportunity to those Russian athletes who have been subjected to thorough, untainted drug testing outside of Russia to meet a “uniform set of criteria” that could allow them to compete in Rio next month under a neutral flag.