In revealing its judgement, World Rowing (FISA) said that those banned were “not at all considered to have participated in doping” but were not being allowed in as they “do not meet the conditions established by the IOC in their decision of 24 July 2016 for participation in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games”.
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But there was better news for Russia on Tuesday from judo and shooting, with International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer saying all 11 judokas should be considered eligible and the International Shooting Sport Federation’s executive committee clearing all 18 Russian competitors.
(And now to the latest on the road to Rio, ) So far, 1-hundred-05 Russian athletes have been banned from competing in the Olympic Games that begin next week.
Individual decision on Russian athletes will be taken by relevant global federations.
Russian Federation won only one bronze medal in the shooting at London 2012 but claimed three golds, a silver and a bronze in judo.
Executive Board decision to let International Federations decide which Russian athletes are able to compete at Rio 2016, rather than impose a blanket ban on all Russians.
The total size of Russia’s team nudged closer to 200 when the International Triathlon Union cleared the three men and three women the nation had qualified for that competition.
“None of the six Russian triathletes that have qualified for 2016 Olympics are included in the McLaren report, nor have any of them served suspensions or bans for failed doping tests”, an ITU statement read.
The Russian Olympic Committee and 67 individual Russian athletes took that decision to CAS but the Swiss-based court ruled in the IAAF’s favour.
Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko sent a letter on Monday to IAAF president Lord Coe, asking him to reverse the ban, but said on Wednesday that his request had been refused.
World Rowing took a similar hard-line approach on Tuesday, banning 22 of Russia’s 28 rowers.
“This will help avoiding possible speculations that athletes had a possibility of resorting to banned substances while the activities of the anti-doping laboratory on the territory of Russian Federation were suspended and they were preparing for the Olympic Games at that time”, the FIE President stated in December.
The places will instead be given to Greece (men’s four), Italy (women’s sculls) and Australia and Italy (women’s and men’s eight).
The International Canoe Federation was another sport to block several Russians, in its case five sprint canoeists, including London 2012 men’s K2 champion Alexander Dyachenko, and World Sailing ruled out one athlete but allowed Russia to call in a reserve.
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Russian Federation initially selected 387 athletes for Rio, approximately 50 fewer than for recent summer Games, but has already lost more than a hundred in the vetting process, with boxing, cycling, golf, gymnastics, handball, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling still to confirm their eligibility decisions.
