RIO DE JANEIRO -- Russia will walk into the Rio Summer Games opening ceremonies Friday, a tad depleted but still nearly 300 strong, in its accustomed place: late in alphabetical order and high in geopolitical influence.Russian whistleblowers Yuliya and Vitaly Stepanov will watch from their temporary home in the United States.That split-screen visual has felt preordained for months now. It is the embodiment of the near-complete undermining of an 18-year effort to harmonize performance-enhancing drug regulations across borders and continents.The evidence of state-sponsored doping across all Russian sport gathered in two separate World Anti-Doping Agency investigations over the last nine months is compelling and detailed. While time constraints kept the latest chapter from being exhaustive, it should have been enough to sideline the delegation.The entire Russian team in Rio represents an exception to the rules hammered out since WADA was born. Or rather, a rewriting of the rules that has taken place in a matter of weeks. The solution to the eligibility question was jammed through an ad hoc quasi-legal pipeline created for one purpose: to make sure as many Russian athletes as possible received the benefit of the doubt, a benefit many thought should be forfeited.International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach spoke of justice and individual rights at a packed media briefing Thursday. He says he has a clean conscience. For me, the guiding principle was, after this decision, you have to be able to look into the eyes of all the athletes, he said. During my visits to the Olympic Village, I have been looking into the eyes of many athletes.If thats the case, its hard to imagine he didnt see a lot of disappointment staring back.So much information, so little time to process it. Such a shame. We must protect the innocent. That has been the drumbeat from IOC officials up to and including Bach.The absurdly conflicted entities responsible for safeguarding clean sport shielded their eyes instead of pulling out binoculars, starting in 2010 when Russian Anti-Doping Agency employee Vitaly Stepanov began corresponding with WADA. Because WADA -- twice -- didnt act until its hand was forced by investigative journalists. Because it was in the IOC leaderships interest to make that timeframe as compressed as possible, to avoid a major doping scandal on the eve of the Rio Games.They almost succeeded.The normally genteel world of Olympic governance has seen an extraordinary bloodletting over the past few days. The IOC has turned on WADA, correctly accusing the agency it created of foot-dragging, while conveniently neglecting the fact that their interests are deeply intertwined.WADAs former chief investigator, former U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency special agent Jack Robertson, eviscerated WADA for a lack of interest in pursuing the truth, and similarly castigated the IOC for ignoring it when it emerged.The action the IOC took has forever set a bar for how the most outrageous doping and cover up and corruption possible will be treated in the future, Robertson told ProPublicas David Epstein. Those involved in running sport are former athletes, so somehow I figured that they would have honor and integrity. But the people in charge are basically raping their sports and the system for self-interest.Completing the accusatory circle, Richard McLaren, the Canadian law professor who led a compressed but still informative probe that began in May at WADAs behest, Thursday accused the IOC of misrepresenting his findings.McLarens mandate was to probe the extent of Russian state involvement in doping beyond track and field -- an effort that the WADA Athlete Committee had asked for months before. His assignment came only after ex-Moscow lab director Grigory Rodchenkov revealed the creative, concerted sabotage of drug testing at the 2014 Sochi Games in an interview with the New York Times.McLaren made substantial progress in a short two months. He found a scratches and marks expert to prove that tamper-proof urine sample bottles used at the Sochi Games were not adult-proof. He detailed the steps taken to cover up positive tests, and showed that systemic doping had touched a wide range of Russian sports.His report prompted WADA to call for the exclusion of the entire Russian delegation. A coalition of national anti-doping organizations, including the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, also advocated a blanket ban.The IOCs Executive Board promptly abdicated responsibility and punted the dirty work of determining one-by-one which Russian athletes were clean to their respective international sport federations.McLaren, a veteran arbitrator who generally comes across as a measured academic rather than a firebrand, is deeply disturbed by that outcome.Look at what is there and what the data is and make a decision on that basis and dont turn it into what it isnt -- a doping results management investigation of specific athletes, McLaren told The Guardian.He also took issue with continued references to his report as allegations, a term Bach repeated Thursday.I wouldnt put anything in the report that I didnt have evidence of and wouldnt meet the criminal standard in any court around the world, McLaren said.Bach defended the process again Thursday with a rhetorical question: Can you hold any athlete responsible for the wrongdoing of his or her country? That misses the point. The athletes and national machinery are too intertwined at this point to separate with any fairness or logic. It defies belief that a government-sports-industrial complex would open its doping toolbox to some sports and not others, especially when that complex was succeeding at hoodwinking the world.Handing off to the international federations was specious from the start. Did anyone really expect individual sports fiefdoms to buck Russia when the IOC wouldnt? Or that fencing would defy the Russian oligarch who serves as its president? Judo made Russian president Vladimir Putin its honorary president, and swimming conferred its highest honor on him.It will be interesting to see how the Russian athletes are received Friday. However, their entrance will not be the most dramatic of the evening. That distinction will belong to the Refugee Olympic Team, a group of athletes the IOC granted special dispensation to compete.The Refugee Team is an example of the spectacular symbolism that sport can provide, and illustrates that the IOC can bend and shape the eligibility rules for its showcase event any way it wishes.Yuliya Stepanova could have been shown that same consideration by being allowed to run the 800-meter event in neutral colors. She is rusty and injured and not a medal threat. It would have been an easy gesture, a way to thank her and her husband for exposing corruption and becoming forced exiles.Instead, the IOC interviewed her by phone and twisted her words. Asked whether she would compete under the Russian flag, Stepanova said she would, but didnt think she would be welcome, given the level of hostility against her and her husband. 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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Super Bowl MVP Von Miller practiced both pirouettes and patience this offseason.While his dance moves didnt earn him the title on Dancing With The Stars, Millers stare-down in contract negotiations paid off Friday when he signed a six-year, $114.5 million deadline deal with the Denver Broncos that includes $70 million guaranteed.Thats almost double the guaranteed money the Broncos were offering him in June.Miller received $23 million at signing and will earn $61 million over the first eight months of the blockbuster deal that makes him the highest-paid player outside of quarterbacks in NFL history.Miller thanked team owner Pat Bowlen, president and CEO Joe Ellis, general manager John Elway and coach Gary Kubiak for making this possible.Im also thankful for the way my teammates and our fans have supported me, Miller said in a statement. Im excited for the future and ready to get back to work.Miller and agent Joby Branion parlayed patience into a record-breaking deal in terms of overall value and guarantees. Last month, Millers camp rejected the $38.5 million the Broncos offered in guarantees, and Miller threatened to sit out the season barring a long-term deal.Elway bolstered the offer over the last week and now the man who almost single-handedly destroyed Carolinas championship dreams will lead Denvers title defense that begins Sept. 8 against those Panthers.Im happy that both sides were able to broker a deal that works for both sides, Branion said. Thats the mark of a good negotiation. The Broncos are happy to have Von back and Vons happy to be back.Miller was in Utah on Friday for an appearance with Whitney Carson, his partner on Dancing With The Stars, and Elway was overseas.Congrats (at)Millerlite40! Excited for what the future holds for you & our team, Elway tweeted. Proud of everyone for getting it done.The cornerstone of the leagues best defense accepted the Broncos blockbuster offer two hours before Fridays deadline, tweeting a photo of himself in his orange No. 58 jersey with the caption For Life.Both the overall value of the deal and the guaranteed money are records for nonquarterbacks. The only player with more guaranteed money is Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, the leagues highest-paid player. The sixx-year, $140 million contract Luck signed last month includes $75 million fully guaranteed.ddddddddddddhe next few years will determine whether Millers deal is a win-win in Denver. But its already a huge victory for the versatile outside linebacker who has 60 career sacks in five seasons.This contract checks off all the boxes for Miller -- the biggest overall deal for a non-QB in league history, most guaranteed money for an NFL defensive player and a benchmark contract that raises the bar for the next superstar.In June, Millers camp agreed to the parameters of the Broncos six-year offer that slightly exceeded the $114.375 million Miamis Ndamukong Suh received in 2015 in becoming the leagues highest-paid defender. But they asked for millions more in guarantees.Fletcher Cox quickly established a new floor for Miller with his $63.3 million in guarantees, and Lucks deal raised the ceiling for Miller, the star of Super Bowl 50.After Elway put his exclusive franchise tag on him, Miller skipped the Broncos offseason program, joining his teammates only for their White House visit and ring ceremony. But Miller stayed in tip-top shape, in part by doing all that dancing on ABCs prime-time hit show.Miller, the second overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft, has 60 career sacks and has bounced back from a 2013 season that was derailed by a suspension and a knee injury that sidelined him for the Broncos Super Bowl loss to Seattle.Miller predicted peaceful contract negotiations 12 hours after spearheading Denvers 24-10 win over Carolina in this years Super Bowl. But things got thorny last month after details of Denvers June 7 offer became public. Miller cropped Elway from a photo on his Instagram account and then said there was no way hed play this season on the franchise tag.The two of them patched up their differences as talks reignited and the man Elway has called the best player hes ever seen will be back in uniform when the Broncos report to training camp.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton ' ' '