The International Olympic Committee has failed a test of its leadership

COMMENT: At a time when sport was crying out for leadership over the scourge of performance enhancing drugs, the IOC has failed in spectacular fashion, writes Robert Craddock.

Russia will not receive a blanket ban from the IOC.

THE decision to allow Russia to compete in Rio was a gutless cop-out which will soil the Games.

Don’t worry about the gas problems in the Olympic village – this is the real stinker.

Imagine if Russia was a person and not a country.

What would you think would be a fair punishment for organising a heinous system where dirty swabs were swapped for clean ones through a hole in a wall?

You could comfortably ban them for life and not have a solitary regret.

Yet here they are set to march as bold as brass under the Russian flag at Friday week’s opening ceremony.

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It’s fine talking about the need to save innocent athletes but every war has casualties which claim innocent victims.

It’s sometimes what you have to do to for the greater good of a major cause like the war against drugs.

The first rule of re-entry for Russian athletes is the one which almost makes you laugh.

They must be cleared by their own federation.

Seriously? Isn’t that that same federation that organised the drugs to be swapped through the wall.

What a joke.

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I’m tipping they don’t catch out many at all.

After a three hour conference the IOC passed the decision on to sports federations which was a cop-out in itself.

Is there any danger the leaders can lead?

Russian doping whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova will be unable to compete at the Rio Games.

It is not up to the sports federations to be moral policemen. That is the job of the IOC.

Or does IOC stand for I’m Obviously going to Cop-out.

The world had a chance here to make a major statement about drug taking and missed it.

The Russian doping regime destroyed lives. The country needed to be shamed.

It ruined careers of its own athletes and pushed many athletes from rival nations out of medals which were rightfully theirs.

One of the great regrets of Olympic sport was that the drug testers failed to catch the state sponsored East German and Chinese doping regimes in real time when they were in full swing.

This time they had a chance to do so and they have dropped the ball.

Shame on them.

Russia’s great victory was having whistle-blower Yuliya Stepanova banned from the Games for “ethical reasons’’.

So she fessed up about their drug system and got banned but others who stayed silent will compete. Go figure.

Welcome to the dodgy world of Olympic politics.

It is customary before each Games for some chest-beating official to say “these will be the least drug tainted Games ever.’’

Have you noticed no one is saying it this time?

The battle has been long lost and the shine of the Games has gone with it.

Originally published as The International Olympic Committee has failed a test of its leadership