That decision provoked howls of protest from the anti-doping community, journalists and many athletes, as Stepanova and her husband were the first whistle-blowers to expose the Russian doping conspiracy and now live in hiding in the United States.
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Over 100 Russian athletes are set to fly out to Brazil Thursday, with at least half of them in the dark regarding their status at the start of the day.
“They have all been tested outside of Russian Federation”, the ITU said in a statement.
The IAAF is the only sport to impose a near-blanket ban on Russians, only deeming one – long jumper Darya Klishina – eligible for Rio.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has confirmed that the three Russian swimmers, namely Vladimir Morozov, Daria Ustinova and Nikita Lobintsev who were barred from the Rio Olympics, were mentioned in the McLaren report as involved in disappearing positive tests, the SwimSwam online portal said.
Russian Federation will hold a tournament for the track-and-field athletes who worldwide sports officials last month barred from participating in the upcoming summer Olympics in Brazil, Yuri Borzakovsky, the head coach of Russia’s national team, told state-run news outlet TASS Wednesday.
In all there are now 22 Russian rowers who have been excluded from participation in Rio.
The ban came after a series of inquiries into whistleblowing reports that Russian officials had launched a state-run doping program that did not only provide performance enhancing drugs to athletes but also helped cover up their positive tests in urine samples.
Fencers, triathletes and table tennis players became the latest team of Russians to be cleared to compete in the Olympics by the governing bodies of their sports ahead of the Moscow ceremony, but the IAAF rejected a bid by the bulk of the track and field team to be reinstated.
“The applications by 68 athletes for eligibility to compete in Rio were assessed carefully and on an individual basis by the IAAF Doping Review Board, and only one of them was found to meet the criteria for exceptional eligibility”.
Four positive results in Russian triathlon were also covered up, according to McLaren.
The International Association of Athletics Federation imposed a total ban in November, which was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week.
The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) added that it has sent a list of Russian volleyball and beach volleyball participants to the IOC and CAS for approval.
Isinbayeva spoke at a Russian Olympic team send-off ceremony at the Kremlin on Wednesday, saying that she and other athletes were banned from going to Rio “in a rude manner and without giving us a chance to defend ourselves”.
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Germany s Olympic discus champion Robert Harting verbally attacked IOC president Thomas Bach, calling his compatriot “part of the doping system, not the anti-doping system”.
