Russian Federation is one of the world’s foremost sporting powers which won the third biggest overall medal haul at the last summer Olympics in 2012 – though some of those results are now in question because of doping suspicions.
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Bolt’s outing at the Olympic Stadium, the scene of his three Olympic gold medal wins at London 2012 in the 100m, 200m and sprint relay, will be his last before the Games.
“Now that the entire track and field team is banned we’ll be supporting the other Russian athletes at the Olympics, hoping they’ll show everyone that sport in our country is great”, she said.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling on track and field is seen as a key indicator as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) debates whether to order a blanket ban on Russian Federation from the Rio Games that start August 5.
International Olympic Committee executives talked Tuesday about a ban on all Russians competing at Rio but set aside a decision to check legal issues and see what CAS would rule on the IAAF ban appeal.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected the appeal of 68 Russian athletes seeking to overturn the ban imposed by the IAAF following allegations of state-sponsored doping and coverups.
The IAAF said it was pleased that CAS had supported its stance. It follows the publication of a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren into Russia’s state-backed doping which found samples from Paralympic athletes were made to disappear or were swapped.
A Russia Athlete carrying Russia flag [Photo by Anja Niedringhaus/AP Images] Unsurprisingly, the verdict has brought some serious condemnation from Russian sports personalities, officials, and even from a minister of Russia. The decision to uphold the ban on Russian athletes was “a purely political order”, the sports star said.
“Today’s judgment has created a level playing field for athletes”, world track and field’s governing body said in a statement.
At the same time, the last Soviet leader said he was concerned and upset over the possibility that “in the event that Russian athletes are barred from participation in the Olympics, “clean” athletes will be punished along with those guilty”.
The IOC is expected to reach a final decision within the next week and has said it will take the CAS ruling into account. His dream of going to the Olympics “was in my hands and they took it away”, Chaly said, vowing to train for the 2020 Games. Maria Kuchina, the 23-year old High Jumper and was a strong contender for the medal before the dreading announcement came, said “My first reaction was: it’s just not true!” “In the opinion of CAS, because the national federation is suspended, normally these athletes should not compete in Rio, but the International Olympic Committee was not a party in these conversations and our decision is not binding on the International Olympic Committee”.
“Why is the International Olympic Committee not acting in the face of incontrovertible evidence of government interference?” he said.
“Beyond Rio the IAAF taskforce will continue to work with Russia to establish a clean safe environment for its athletes so that its federation and team can return to global recognition and competition”, Coe added.
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Russian Federation today made a last-ditch bid to avoid a blanket ban at the Rio Games over state-run doping as a fresh batch of drug test failures from Beijing 2008 and London 2012 rocked the Olympics.
