That formed the basis for the first independent WADA report last November, which led to the current ban on Russian track and field athletes from competing internationally.
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“I do believe the IOC had a chance to destroy this system and to show that the Olympic movement will not tolerate this kind of cheating”, Stepanov told CNN via a Skype from the USA, “but they chose not to do that”.
He vowed to defend Russia’s damaged sporting reputation subsequent to the doping allegations, he went on to label the decision by global sporting organisations to ban a selection of Russian athletes as nonsensical and illegal, while addressing members of Russia’s Olympic team in the Kremlin on Wednesday.
Others, such as the International Judo Federation, the International Tennis Federation, the International Shooting Sport Federation and World Archery, have declared all Russians eligible.
“Zhukov assured that the Russian team at the Rio Olympics will be absolutely free of doping, saying that the team “is now the cleanest in the world”. Long jumper Darya Klishina is the only athlete to have been cleared to participate in Rio as a neutral athlete.
ROWING – Ivan Balandin from the Russian men’s eight has been banned from competing at Rio by the World Rowing Federation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin waves to Chinese children after a welcoming ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People on June 25, 2016 in Beijing, China.
Each International Federation were instead asked to “carry out an individual analysis of each athlete’s anti-doping record, taking into account only reliable adequate international tests, and the specificities of the athlete’s sport and its rules”.
Today, the International Triathlon Union gave the all-clear to the six Russian triathletes and the International Fencing Federation approved Russia’s 16-member fencing team.
The track team did, however, attend the ceremonial farewell with Putin on Wednesday, when the Russian president branded restrictions on Russia as “pure discrimination”.
Two-time gold medallist pole vaulter Isinbayeva was seen breaking down in tears.
He said medals won in Rio would be devalued by the absence of Russian competitors, telling the Russian team “the other sportsmen understand that the quality of their medals will be different”.
“The situation went beyond the legal field as well as common sense”, Putin told the audience, which included numerous banned athletes.
“They banned us without evidence, crudely and rudely”, she said, before the team headed to a religious ceremony to be blessed by the influential head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
More than 100 Russians from the 387-strong Olympic team have been banned so far from going to Rio de Janeiro.
The Russian lifting team risks being banned from the Rio Games en masse because of the large number of failures in retests from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
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Any Russian athletes who have ever been sanctioned for doping, even if they served bans, are still banned from being entered by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).
