Russian teams and athletes have found unlikely support from Canadian chief investigator at the Word Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Richard McLaren, who thinks they have been treated unfairly when handed bans by many sporting federations.
With Russian teams and athletes banned from many sports, however, after sporting federations followed an International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendation in spring, McLaren told German sports website Sportschau.de that "the way they are treated is not fair".
"The athletes did not start this conflict and are not responsible for its course. Those are two good reasons to let them participate [in sports] again," he pointed out.
"As long as the conflict lasts, the international sports community will not change the decision it has made," he predicted, while also expecting some Russian parties to head to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to seek legal action over their right to compete.
"Should the CAS decide in favor of the athletes, the associations would be forced to let them compete again," McLaren stressed, before then finishing by saying that "it is completely open" as to whether a judge at the Swiss-based authority would rule in favor of the Russian side or the federation that has placed prohibitions on them.
