The split between Olympic leaders and global anti-doping officials over the Russian doping scandal continues to escalate.
The World Anti-Doping Agency fired back on Monday, a day after IOC President Thomas Bach suggested the agency was to blame for the last-minute chaos over the participation of Russian athletes in the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Bach said the agency should have acted sooner on evidence of state-sponsored doping rather than release the damning report by Canadian investigator Richard McLaren so close to the games, which open on Friday.
"While it is destabilizing in the lead-up to the games, it is obvious, given the seriousness of the revelations that he (McLaren) uncovered, that they had to be published and acted upon without delay," WADA President Craig Reedie, who is also an IOC vice president, said in a statement Monday.
Russia's sports minister says a decision is expected in the next two days on which athletes will be allowed to compete in Rio de Janeiro.
Vitaly Mutko spoke during a visit to Paris-based UNESCO on Monday where he presented a report on what is being done in Russia to fight doping — after the World Anti-Doping Agency accused the Russian government of directing a vast cover-up.
Mutko insists "there is no state system of doping in Russia."
The IOC won't allow Russians to compete in Rio if they had previously been banned for doping, were implicated in the alleged cover-up or had not been tested often enough internationally.
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