Russia’s weightlifting team has been banned from competing at the Rio Olympics because of doping offences.
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Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko on Friday told local media that 272 of the country’s athletes had been approved by global sports federations, out of an original team of 387, adding that the number could rise.
“We would like to highlight the extremely shocking and disappointing statistics regarding the Russian weightlifters”.
Hartfield finished fifth at U.S. Olympic trials earlier this month and was next in line for a spot because he had reached an Olympic qualifying standard earlier in the year. “We should do so after the Olympic Games”. Kashirina won silver at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, is a four-time world champion and holds the snatch and clean and jerk world records.
An IOC program commission report released on Friday said the five sports are a blend of the traditional and emerging, youth-focused events, and all have global and local appeal. But the nation’s weightlifters were banned for doping.
In a timely boost for Los Angeles’ bid for the 2024 Games, the United States is getting a second member on the International Olympic Committee’s ruling executive board.
Speaking just hours before the IWF’s decision was announced, he told Press Association Sport: “My personal opinion is if anyone has served a drug ban in any sport, they shouldn’t have the right to be able to compete in the greatest show on earth. It is about individual athletes”, Adams said.
Weightlifting is a sport historically associated with doping offenses, and Russia’s athletes have been some of the most heavily implicated in the recently-published McLaren Report sponsored by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which allegedly exposed state-sponsored cheating.
He said the process would be completed by Friday, the day the Games open.
Russia’s team was originally 387-strong and yesterday a special tournament for the banned athletes – “Stars 2016” – was staged in Moscow.
The final number expelled will be determined by independent arbiters appointed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
But the International Olympic Committee refused to effect a blanket ban and instead insisted that the entry of Russian sportspersons will depend on the decision of the individual global federations.
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The Australians and at least eight other Olympic teams complained this week about their accommodations in the athletes’ village, citing plumbing leaks, electrical faults and dirty conditions.
