Vladimir Putin has angrily accused the International Association of Athletics Federations of “blatant discrimination” for banning nearly the entire Russian Olympic track and field team.
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He argued that “no concrete, evidence-based accusations” had been brought against Russian athletes and said the absence of top competitors would “reduce the intensity of the struggle” and leave medal winners’ victories “tasteless”.
It was the first sport to individually assess each Russian athlete on the basis of a reversal of the “presumption of innocence” and only one of Russia’s proposed 68-strong team has been declared eligible for Rio.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today wished the Malaysian Olympic contingent the best of luck for the upcoming 2016 Rio Games next month.
Brazil’s men’s team is preparing for the games at a training camp in the mountain city of Teresopolis on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
World Archery said it was satisfied the three female Russian archers nominated for the Games had been tested “extensively” and have never been sanctioned for doping.
But there is now less chance, thank ussia will stomp off in a goodness, that Russian Federation will stomp off in a huff and ask whether it is really worth trying to comply with global standards if there is one rule for its athletes and another for everyone else.
Alexander Dyachenko, an Olympic champion in 2012, was among five canoeists ruled out after being named in a recent report by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren alleging a state-sponsored doping cover-up.
Yet Russian athletes will still compete in Rio. Most are not formally accused of doping but failed to meet International Olympic Committee standards that now force them to prove they are clean.
It confirms the findings of the McLaren commission that corruption in Russian Federation was widespread and involved far more than merely rogue athletes.
“Only (long jumper Darya Klishina).was found to meet the criteria for exceptional eligibility”.
“We will of course mention the ban during the Games and, if there was an athlete that would have been competitive for a medal, we will mention that that athlete was not allowed to compete”.
Putin, however, had nothing to say about her case, instead focusing on the steps Russian Federation has taken to clean up its act, including his idea for a new independent anti-doping commission led by former International Olympic Committee vice-president Vitaly Smirnov.
“I hope they fix all the problems”, he said. Organised by the All-Russian Athletics Federation (RAF) it will take place at the Znamensky Brothers stadium in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that his country’s athletes have been the victims of “discrimination” that the country is “not going to put up with”. Pavel Sozykin was the lone athlete banned from competing in Rio.
The letter, however, got short shrift from the IAAF.
Four-time world breaststroke champion Yulia Efimova also plans to appeal her ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. “CAS considered the appeals of the (other) 67 athletes fully and rejected them”.
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“I think that each of them should be asked: ‘How do you deal with conflicts, how to assure the rest of the world and especially athletes from non-Russian countries that you will make, and are making, decisions in an impartial way?'” said Joseph de Pencier, chief executive of the 59-member Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations.
