On July 15, The International Association of Athletics Federations announced that Russia's track and field team would not compete in this summer's Olympic games, which are set to begin on August 5 in Rio.

After winning eighteen medals in track and field at the last Summer Olympics, eight of which were gold, it was discovered that athletes were knowingly given banned substances. Additionally, it was reported that certain Russian track and field competitors were given these illegal substances with liquor to reduce the period that the drugs could be shown if tested. Officials also switched urine samples and destroyed any evidence.

This information quickly received a large amount of circulation and caused worry among many other track and field athletes who felt that actions must be taken to assure that this doping does not continue to occur.

The Russian ministry of sport held an opposing sentiment after releasing a statement noting, "We now appeal to the members of the International Olympic Committee to not only consider the impact that our athletes' exclusion will have on their dreams and the people of Russia, but also that the Olympics themselves will be diminished by their absence."

After holding a following meeting that Tuesday, the I.O.C. decided to keep this ban in place. The only way for Russian track and field athletes to now compete in this summer's Olympics is to prove that they have undergone testing in the last year that is not Russian, and even then, athletes could only compete as neutrals.

It is imperative that the Olympics take this incident seriously and institute stricter policies to ensure that an occurrence of this magnitude does not repeat itself.