Doping clouds IOC meet ahead of Rio Olympics

With the International Olympic Committee striving to keep drug cheats out of the Rio Games amid a series of doping scandals, this week's meeting of IOC top brass should be closely watched.

The Summer Games in the Brazilian city are just two months away, but much remains uncertain, especially the fate of Russian athletes.

Russia has been at the centre of a widening doping crisis, which has led the IOC to retest samples from past competitions.

So far, re-analysis has found 31 new doping failures from the 2008 Games in Beijing and another 23 from London 2012. At least 14 Russian athletes are implicated.

Any athlete whose guilt is confirmed on a second test will be barred from Rio and the IOC said more positive tests could be revealed in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Russia's athletics federation is facing an outright ban from Rio following a November suspension by governing body the IAAF, enforced after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accused the federation of "state-sponsored" cheating.

Meeting at its Lausanne, Switzerland headquarters from Wednesday to Friday, the IOC's executive board will receive a briefing on the re-testing campaign and from WADA chief Craig Reedie on the main findings of the Russia probe.

The goal is "to keep the dopers away from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro," IOC President Thomas Bach said last week. "This is why we are acting swiftly now."

- 'Right' to be at Rio -

Russia's pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva said this week that athletes from several major countries -- including the United States, Britain and Germany -- were guilty of cheating and that the blanket ban against Russia violated her rights.

"We know that there's a systematic doping usage there. But Russia has never suggested to ban their national federations," she said in an interview with the Russia Today network.

"I gave my samples for doping control around the world and they were always clean," the two-time Olympic champion said. "Nobody has the right to bar me from competing wherever I want."

Securing the right to compete in Rio has become a "point of honour", she told the network.

The IAAF will decide on June 17 whether to readmit Russia.

WADA is also now investigating claims by the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov that Russian secret service and government officials subverted samples at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics to cover up failures by Russian competitors.

Russia has denied any wrongdoing but the scandals have increased pressure for tough action.

- Rio ready? -

The scramble to finish Olympic venues in time for the opening ceremony has become a common storyline ahead of recent Games.

But Brazil has faced a string of unique challenges, including an unprecedented political crisis that led to the suspension of president Dilma Rousseff and an epidemic of the mosquito-born Zika virus, which has raised fears that fans and possibly some athletes might stay away.

IOC director for the Rio Games, Christophe Dubi, told AFP that organisers will have to race to deliver the cycling velodrome and that while most of the stadiums are ready some retain problems, like the swimming pool, which has an issue with ventilation.

Rio organising chief Carlos Nuzman will be in Lausanne on Thursday to brief the board on the city's readiness to host the Games, which open on August 5.