The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been accused of failing clean athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games by a global anti-doping body.
The Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations (iNADO) says the IOC "lost the anti-doping battle at Rio... before the Games began".
Individual sports federations were left to decide on the involvement of Russian athletes in the Olympics following allegations of state-sponsored doping, while the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) imposed a blanket ban on competitors from the country.
iNADO - a group of 59 anti-doping organisations - praised the IPC for its decisive action, but compared the participation of Russian athletes at the Olympics to that of disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson in 1988.
"The International Olympic Committee (IOC) lost the anti-doping battle at Rio. It did so before the 2016 Olympic Games began," read an iNADO statement.
"It ignored its own calls for harmony and independence in anti-doping, and the recommendations from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and anti-doping organisations around the world for a fair and standardised approach to determine Russian eligibility.
"In doing so, the IOC failed the clean athletes of the world.
"Sadly for sport, just as the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games are remembered by Ben Johnson’s infamy, this year’s Games will be remembered by participation of athletes served by a Russian system that corrupted clean sport.
"Equally disappointing, in the eyes of many the IOC chose to associate itself with such a system by failing to reject it categorically.
"The International Paralympic Committee, faced with the same facts, did not make that mistake."
Among a raft of recommendations made by iNADO to the IOC are calls for the governing body to recognize the reliability of the McLaren report into Russian doping and to encourage whistleblowers to come forward.
Photo: Getty Images