The prospect of Russia boycotting an Olympics for the first time since 1984 is a step closer after its national anti-doping agency failed to have its suspension lifted.
The Russian Anti-Doping Agency was declared non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency's rules when the details of Russia's systemic cheating first emerged in November 2015.
With the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang just 12 weeks away, Thursday's WADA foundation board meeting in Seoul was the last scheduled chance for RUSADA to convince anti-doping leaders it had met the terms of a "road map" to compliance.
While RUSADA has met almost every technical item on the 31-point list, much of which has been overseen by UK Anti-Doping, it has refused to comply with two fundamental criteria.
Even despite the recent discovery of further evidence to corroborate the case against them, the Russian authorities will still not admit they ran a state-sponsored doping programme or allow access to blood and urine samples stored in the Moscow anti-doping laboratory at the heart of the conspiracy.
By refusing to meet these requirements, the Russian delegation's efforts to persuade the 38-strong foundation board, which...
