“Justice will certainly prevail!” the Russian president told the athletes.
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Whistleblower and middle-distance runner Yulia Stepanova had been cleared to compete at the Games as a neutral athlete by the IAAF but was ruled out by the International Olympic Committee due to her past doping record. The IOC executive committee decided not to ban the Russian team. The 57-day inquiry also showed doping by Russians in the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as some world championships.
Controversially, among the Russians banned is Yuliya Stepanova, the 800m runner who lifted the lid on systematic doping and corruption in Russian athletics. Fencers who were also under suspicion were cleared to compete in Brazil.
In a news release issued on Wednesday, the ITTF said its investigation included individual tests outside the Russian anti-doping system.
Italian newspaper La Stampa agreed that banning everybody because of the transgressions of a few would be unjust.
The report by Richard McLaren, which was commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), found that the Russian Ministry of Sport “directed, controlled and oversaw the manipulation” of athletes’ test results from 2011 to 2015.
The IOC said last month it had reached agreement with 27 worldwide sports federations to collaborate on content for the channel.
One of the banned athletes, two-time Olympic champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, who spoke after Putin, lamented that her Olympic dreams had been shattered.
The tournament, given the super imaginative name “Stars 2016” (which, if you type into google, will provide you with a freakish mix of results ranging from “Dancing With The Stars” to horoscope readings, and very little about athletic excellence) will take place this Thursday, Russian time, and will be held at Moscow’s Znamensky Brothers Stadium.
“For us, the OIC decision is ok”.
“After all, they were flying out on the morning of the decision, they were in a heightened state of emotion”.
She accused the International Olympic Committee of making a “cowardly decision”. “I am sure that there won’t be any allegations made about our gymnasts”, Rodionenko said. But there were “no grounds for further review”, the organisation said on Wednesday.
Those barred from competing, Putin says, are victims of “double standards” and a campaign against Russian sports.
On July 21 Brazil arrested 10 people suspected of belonging to a poorly organized group that supports IS and discussing terrorist acts during the Olympic Games.
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“We can’t accept indiscriminate disqualification of our athletes with an absolutely clean doping history”, Putin said at a Kremlin ceremony to send off cleared athletes. Nevertheless, they are allowed to compete, but Russians are not, even if their disqualification ended a long time ago. With the Russian athletes out of the race, other competitors would be taken out of the real essence of the competition itself.
