Brazilian football legend, Pele, has said he is against suspending “clean” Russian athletes from the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro over the latest doping scandal.
“I don’t believe it is fair to punish those who were not involved in using doping,” Pele said.
Pele also acknowledged it was not easy to ensure full control over the use of banned substances. “It is necessary that all the federations from all over the world unite efforts to implement such a control.”
An independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission delivered on November 9 a report on its investigation into doping abuse allegations involving Russian athletes. This recommended that the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) suspends all athletes of the All-Russia Athletics Federation from international competitions.
On November 13, the IAAF council voted 22-1 to suspend the Russian federation, which could prevent Russian track and field athletes taking part in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next year.