I'm no IOC official (burdened with a conscience as I am) so maybe I'm just ignorant in wondering whether there's a good reason for testing samples from the 2012 Olympics a few weeks after the 2016 games when the benefits of testing those samples before the 2016 games would include not having the 2012 doping-impacted results taint the 2016 results. I get that technology evolves and so you keep samples around for ten years but it can't be the case that the same technology that existed this week didn't exist a month ago. Or am I missing something obvious.
Noting that:
(1) WADA is semi-autonomous -- was originally founded by the IOC but now is half-funded by the IOC, half-funded by various governments, and has moved its HQ from Switzerland to Canada.
(b) WADA published its report on widespread, organized, state-run Russian cheating on drug tests at Sochi and in general, and recommended banning all Russian athletes from Rio; the IOC punted this decision to the individual sports, almost all of whom allowed the Russians into Rio.
2 guesses -- this was either:
(1) a way of getting back at the 2016 Russian eligibility decisions, or
(2) the plan all along -- i.e., a closed-door deal with the IOC president, behind the back of the IOC at large, when the IOC delegated to the sports.
Russia tends to have outsized influence in any diplomatic measures, between its size, bribery, threats, and thuggery. However, curiously enough, there are zero Russians on the WADA board or any of its committees. So the WADA has a few more liberties than the IOC.
