2) The Russian doping scandal
The mass doping scandal involving Russian athletes was another controversy that hogged the limelight in the lead up to the Olympics. After a report from World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) implicated the Russian Govt in a state-run mass doping programme that stretched from 2011 to 2015 came to light, there were calls to ban the country altogether from the Olympics.
Though it did not come to that extreme, the systematic cheating measures which resulted in 312 positive Russian tests across 28 Olympic sports meant IOC left it to the individual governing associations to decide on banning the Russian athletes. The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) decided to ban all Russian track-and-field athletes though.
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