Some 70 Russian competitors from the country’s depleted Olympics team flew out from Moscow for Rio on Thursday as sports federations whittled down the number of athletes allowed to take part. The International Olympic Committee has imposed strict criteria for athletes to prove they are clean, while individual sporting federations were tasked to clear Russian athletes.
Advertisement
CCTV’s Julia Lyubova reports from Moscow.
“We will fight for those who were not able to go”. “We haven’t seen our competitors yet, the Chinese competitors”.
“They have got us fired up – but in a good way. But we have been working hard and we are ready to show our full potential”.
“Flagbearer at the Olympics in Rio has already been decided, it is a great athlete, Olympic volleyball champion, Sergey Tetyukhin”.
At a ceremony in the Village on Wednesday, a smiling Paes apologized and thanked the Australian team for their understanding – and said they would be his second choice team for the Games, after Brazil.
Earlier, the IAAF announced it had banned all Russian athletes from taking part in global competitions, including the upcoming Olympics in Brazil.
“Why is Elena Isinbayeva is deprived of her right to compete”, Vladimir Vasin, vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee, said.
“The UCI, through the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF), is in the process of identifying relevant rider samples and is in close dialogue with WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) to move forward with these cases immediately”, the UCI said in a statement, referring to the riders under investigation.
The Russian also believes it has left her campaign to join the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission in ruins. She became a mother, but why doesn’t she have a chance?
Advertisement
Some Russian competitors are already in Brazil acclimatising to the conditions but despite Thursday’s triumphal farewell it remains unclear how numerous 387-strong squad Moscow named last week will eventually compete.
