On Wednesday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the signing of a deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to supply vaccines for athletes participating in the Olympics.

The IOC and Pfizer reached a memorandum of understanding to supply the Olympics with enough vaccines to cover the athletes. This would enable the upcoming summer Tokyo Olympics to be safer despite pressure to cancel it because the Japanese government handled the coronavirus.

“This donation of the vaccine is another tool in our toolbox of measures to help make the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 safe and secure for all participants, and to show solidarity with our gracious Japanese hosts,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “We are inviting the athletes and participating delegations of the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games to lead by example and accept the vaccine where and when possible. By taking the vaccine, they can send a powerful message that vaccination is not only about personal health, but also about solidarity and consideration of the wellbeing of others in their communities.”

“We see the importance of vaccination all around the world,” Prof. Uğur Erdener, Chair of the IOC Medical and Scientific Commission, said. “We encourage the athletes and Games participants to take the vaccine whenever possible. Vaccination is an important tool to protect not only themselves but also their communities.”

“With hundreds of millions of vaccines already administered, and hundreds of millions more to go, Pfizer is committed, together with BioNTech, to doing all we can to help end this pandemic and help return the world to a sense of normalcy,” said Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer. “The return of the Olympic and Paralympic Games represents a monumental moment of world unity and peace after a grueling year of isolation and devastation. We are proud to play a role in providing vaccines to athletes and national Olympic delegations.”

While the Japanese government continues to push for the Olympics to go on as planned, the government is considering extending a coronavirus-spurred state of emergency in Tokyo and other major urban areas.

On Tuesday, the State Department said the Biden Administration is consulting with allies about a joint approach to China, its human rights record, and how to handle the Bejing Winter Olympics.

At first, the department suggested an Olympic boycott protest was one way to go about it, but later a senior official said that it has not yet been discussed. Said official told ESPN that the United States’ position has not changed, but the administration has been consistently speaking with allies about common concerns about China. Department spokesperson Ned Price said the consultations were being held to present a united front.

Price also declined to comment on when a decision on the Olympics might be made but noted there is still almost a year until it is set to begin. The Bejing Winter Olympics opens on February 4, 2022, and China has denied all charges of human rights abuses. It says “political motives” underlie the boycott effort.

Rights groups have gathered at the International Olympic Committee and have been told the Olympic body must stay politically “neutral.” The IOC has told them that China has given “assurances” about human rights conditions. In the past, both the IOC and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have said they oppose boycotts.

IOC president Thomas Bach said in March that history shows boycotts never achieve anything. “It also has no logic,” he said. “Why would you punish the athletes from your own country if you have a dispute with a government from another country. This just makes no sense.”

The USOPC also commented, “We oppose Game boycotts because they have been shown to negatively impact athletes while not effectively addressing global issues.”

Since there is so much time until the 2022 Bejing Winter Olympics are set to commence, it will be interesting to see how things play out.

On Tuesday, the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee relayed the message that the games will be happening to their fellow members of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party.

“No matter what situation would be with the coronavirus, we will hold the games,” Yoshiro Mori, who is also a former Japanese prime minister, told lawmakers, according to Associated Press. “We should pass on the discussion of whether we will hold the games or not, but instead discuss how we should hold it.”

GET THE BEST OLYMPICS TICKET DEALS HERE!

Mori has been a big supporter of the Tokoyo Olympics, especially over the past several weeks in Japan. He has been backed in Switzerland by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach as rumors have arisen about the games being canceled.

Despite the rumors, the IOC has vigorously reiterated that the Olympics will open on July 23 with 11,000 athletes, tens of thousands of judges, officials, media members, sponsors, and others. The Paralympics will follow with 4,400 athletes on August 24. It is unknown if fans will be allowed at the venues, but the ultimate decision will be made in the spring.

Tokyo Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga extended Tokyo’s state of emergency order for another month, along with nine prefectures. The original order started on January 7 due to an increase in coronavirus cases.

“The biggest problem is the way Japanese people see the Olympics now,” Mori told Associated Press. “And secondly, how we should proceed with the preparations for the games while combating the coronavirus. These two points are our primary focus.”

On Wednesday, Tokyo organizers and the IOC will be releasing their step-by-step rule books for those attending or participating in the Olympics before leaving home. They will explain coronavirus testing in Japan and other strict rules of conduct.

As athletic venues are increasingly being used as platforms for political protests, the International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach defended his support of the guidelines, which say that certain types of protests are prohibited in Olympic venues and medal ceremonies.

Bach insisted that the political neutrality of the Olympics would be undercut if an athlete took a knee, for example.

SLIDESHOW: 50 GREAT SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2019

“[The Olympics] are not and must never be a platform to advance political or any other divisive ends,” Bach said. “Our political neutrality is undermined whenever organizations or individuals attempt to use the Olympic Games as a stage for their own agendas, as legitimate as they may be.”

Two long-standing Olympic Charter rules exist in which Bach defended in a 25-minute speech to an audience who included heads of international sports federations.

Rule 50 prohibits any “demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda” in Olympic areas, while Rule 40 restricts an athlete’s ability to promote his or her own sponsors at a time when many of them receive a huge amount of attention.

Recent examples of protests have been seen at the 2016 Rio Olympic games, the swimming world championships and the Pan-American Games.

Bach warned against a “purely profit-driven” IOC finance model after revenue exceeded $5.6 billion from television and commercial deals in a four-year cycle between the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi and 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The current system helped ensure that the Olympics could cover 33 sports in Tokyo and teams from all 206 national Olympic bodies would have travel and accommodations costs covered.

“Without values of peace, unity and solidarity, we stand in sharp contrast to the zeitgeist of our times”, said Bach, identifying “divisions, of nationalism and of discrimination.”

As the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo approach, the world waits in anticipation for the global competition to begin.

Russia has long been accused of doping, and now it is finally paying the consequences for it.

Russian Olympic doping scandal news

The country’s Olympic team was barred on Tuesday from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Russian government officials are prohibited from attending, and the nation’s flag and anthem will not be displayed at the games, which begin Feb. 9. Any Russian athletes who receive special dispensation to compete will do so “as individuals wearing a neutral uniform, and the official record books will forever show that Russia won zero medals,” as The New York Times reported.

The International Olympic Committee handed down the punishment to Russia for its systematic, state-backed doping program, which has turned out to be one of the largest drug-consumption programs in Olympics history. The doping operations run by East Germany in the 1960s, 70s and 80s are perhaps close to this level.

The IOC had been conducting investigations related to Russian doping for more than a year, and the country’s officials had threatened to boycott of the games should the committee deal such a harsh punishment. Now, that evidently won’t be necessary.

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin had reportedly predicted a boycott of the 2018 Games, particularly since his foreign policy in recent years has been based on the premise that he has rescued Russia from the embarrassment inflicted upon it by the West following the collapse of the Soviet Union. His spokesman has said no boycott was under discussion before the announcement.

Russian athletes with rigorous drug testing histories can reportedly petition for permission to compete in neutral uniforms.

IOC President Thomas Bach said he was disturbed not only by the doping revelations, but also by how Russia achieved this: by corrupting the Olympic laboratory that handled drug testing at the Games, and on orders from Russia’s own Olympic officials.

At the 2014 Sochi Games, a team assembled by Russia’s sports ministry tampered with more than 100 urine samples to occult evidence of major athletes’ steroid use throughout the course of the Olympics. More than 24 Russian athletes have since been disqualified from the Sochi standings, and in some cases, medals have been rescinded. Russia’s track and field team was barred from competing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil.

The Russian Olympic Committee was also fined $15 million on Tuesday.

“Everyone is talking about how to punish Russia, but no one is talking about how to help Russia,” said Vitaly Smirnov, Russia’s former sports minister who was last year appointed by Putin to lead a national anti-doping commission to redeem the country’s standing in world sports. “Of course we want our athletes there, and we want the Russian flag and anthem,” he said.

Tuesday’s punishment was in line with what had been suggested by two key whistle-blowers whose accounts upended Russia’s standing in global sports over the last several years: Grigory Rodchenkov, the chemist who spent 10 years as Russia’s anti-doping lab chief and was key to carrying out the cheating schemes in Sochi; and Vitaly Stepanov, a former employee of Russia’s anti-doping agency who married a runner for Russia’s national team and was the first to speak publicly about the nation’s institutionalized cheating.”

Stepanov had suggested banning Russia’s Olympic Committee for two years, or until the country’s anti-doping operations are re-certified by regulators.

 Rodchenkov is living at an undisclosed location in the United States under protection of federal authorities.

Tuesday’s ruling could also greatly impact another major sports event next year, the FIFA World Cup in Russia (the groups for the soccer tournament, which begins in June, were released on Friday). The nation’s deputy prime minister, Vitaly Mutko, was Russia’s top sports official during the 2014 Sochi Games and was directly implicated by Rodchenkov. Mutko has now been barred for life from the Olympics.

 SOCHI, RUSSIA – FEBRUARY 23: Gold medalist Alexander Legkov of Russia celebrates in the medal ceremony for the Men’s 50 km Mass Start Free during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony at Fisht Olympic Stadium on February 23, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Russia may have made greater efforts to introduce more anti-doping programs, but the International Olympic Committee doesn’t believe this is enough.

IN total, 28 Russian Olympians From Sochi Games have been accused of doping

Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, told the New York Times on Tuesday that the committee would penalize Russia for despite its leader Vladimir Putin’s plans to eliminate the doping culture from the country.

“We have the impression that some in Russia were thinking by addressing the issues for the future, the past would be forgotten,” Bach told the Times in an interview.

The IOC chief then specified that it was because of Russia’s doping scandal during the Winter Olympics it hosted in Sochi in 2014 that the committee was doling out new sanctions on the country.

“You cannot forget what happened in Sochi,” Mr. Bach said. “We have made clear that the past — what happened there — has to be sanctioned.”

Russia’s former national anti-doping lab director, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, explained in a detailed report prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio how he and the nation’s Federal Security Service had assisted Russia’s Olympic athletes use prohibited, performance-enhancing steroids during the Sochi 214 Games.

At those Olympics, Russia dominated the competition: the country won 33 medals, 13 of which were gold. Although none of the medals from those Games have been stripped from any of the athletes who won them, the IOC began disciplinary hearings in December 2016 against 28 Russian Olympians for their participation in state-sponsored doping programs throughout the Sochi tournament. The committee cited evidence that the athletes’ urine samples had been tampered with.

The entire Russian national track and field team was consequently banned from participating in the Rio Olympics in Brazil last summer, and the nation’s full Paralympic team was also suspended from the competition.

Bach did not say how harsh the sanctions against Russia would be, although he stressed that he wished for the case to be solved by October “at the latest,” given that qualifying competitions for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea will be underway soon.

“We want to get this done as soon as possible,” Mr. Bach said. “To come to the appropriate sanction, we have to find out how deep this system of manipulation was rooted.”

An investigator named Richard McLaren — who spent much of last year corroborating Dr. Rodchenkov’s testimony on Russia’s government-sponsored doping programs — stated in late 2016 that it was impossible to determine how far back the country’s doping plans stretched. McLaren provided evidence directly involving a deputy sports minister and an anti-doping adviser to the ministry, both of whom were terminated last summer. Dr. Rodchenkov resigned from Russia’s anti-doping laboratory in November 2015 and has been living in an unknown location in the United States, where a separate federal investigation into Russia’s athletic cheating is being carried out.

Earlier this month, the Kremlin ordered that Russia adopt the recommendations of a national anti-doping commission appointed by Putin. The commission aimed at reinstating the country’s anti-doping agencies, testing lab and professional athletes to proper standing.

“We saw on the one hand the president of Russia saying, ‘Yes we had this problem, we have to admit this,’” Bach said, referring to general apologies from Mr. Putin, who has denied allegations of government-sponsored doping. “You have on the other side some government officials or parliamentarians trying to ignore everything.”

Bach is set to meet with U.S. President Donald J. Trump at the White House on Thursday in order to discuss Los Angeles’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics.

Mr. Trump has voiced his support for the bid, although he and Bach have never met in person.

Besides Los Angeles, Paris is the only other city that remains a top contender to host the 2024 Summer Games. Many other cities have withdrawn their bids to host those Olympics.

Earlier this month, Bach and other Olympic officials approved a proposal to award both the 2024 and 2028 Games simultaneously. Thus, L.A. and Paris could each win one of the two hosting opportunities.

Bach also revealed on Tuesday that the Olympics had recently decided drop longtime American sponsor McDonald’s. The IOC head also discussed the organization’s decision to add new competitions like surfing and skateboarding to the Olympics, in order to appeal to younger sports fans.

SOCHI, RUSSIA – FEBRUARY 23: Gold medalist Alexander Legkov of Russia celebrates in the medal ceremony for the Men’s 50 km Mass Start Free during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony at Fisht Olympic Stadium on February 23, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Russian athletes who pass an individual test by the International Association of Athletics Federations to show they are clean will be allowed to compete for their country at the Rio Games in August, Olympics chief Thomas Bach said early Tuesday.

IOC President Allows Vetted Russian Athletes To Compete At Rio Games

“If there are athletes qualified then they will compete as members of the team of the Russian Olympic Committee,” Bach, who is the president of the International Olympic Committee, told reporters.

Bach also dismissed suggestions that Russian track and field stars could compete under a neutral or Olympic flag, as had been speculated after the IAAF extended its ban on these athletes on Friday. The ban extension came after Russian government officials and coaches were found to have been involved in assisting in the doping of said track and field athletes.

In explaining his equivocating, Bach, who is a lawyer and former fencer, said only national organizing committees can enter athletes in the Games. Except that isn’t exactly the case.

Athletes from the former Yugoslavia competed under the Olympic flag in Barcelona because their country’s breakup left them with no nation to represent. Similarly, a marathoner from South Sudan competed under the Olympic flag in London because his newly formed country did not yet have an Olympic committee.

Earlier this month, the IOC approved a 10-person refugee team that will compete under the Olympic flag.

“There is no contradiction,” Bach insisted. “The Russian Olympic Committee is not suspended, and if you read again the report of the IAAF task force, there you see that the Russian Olympic Committee was very helpful in clearing up the difficult situation in Russia.”

The report from the World Anti-Doping Agency released last week reveals positive tests, athletes not reporting their whereabouts and interference with doping control officers, among other issues.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 06: Yuliya Zaripova of Russia celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase final on Day 10 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 6, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)