Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova waits on Rio, Sebastian Coe wants more to come forward

The IOC has opened the door to the possibility of Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova competing as a neutral athlete at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The IOC says it is asking its ethics commission for "advice" on the issue and will then decide whether Stepanova's participation "merits an exception to the rules of the Olympic Charter".Until now, the International Olympic Committee has said Stepanova would have to compete under the Russia flag. Stepanova, an 800-metre runner who served a two-year doping ban, helped expose the widespread cheating in Russia that led the IAAF to ban the country's track and field athletes from global com petition, including the Olympics.The IAAF granted Stepanova "exceptional eligibility" to compete as a neutral athlete, but not under the Russia flag.She's now exiled in the United States.Elsewhere, in an interview with a journalists in Amsterdam, Sebastian Coe launched a fresh plea for athletes to turn informants should they encounter doping. Stepanova herself served a two-year doping ban before she and her husband Vitaly made startling revelations about state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics."She fulfilled the eligibility criteria set down by the IAAF taskforce and anti-doping review board and the invitation was at the behest of European Athletics," Coe said."Without her support and the evidence she gave the taskforce, we would not have understood as much about the challenge to be confronted.