The Olympic future of two USC-based Russian swimmers named in a doping report remains unclear after the sport’s worldwide governing body said Tuesday that a decision on their eligibility for the upcoming Rio Games has not been made. A ruling by CAS was expected later in the day.
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“They were named in the McLaren report but there was no reason for them not to be allowed to swim”, Zhukov said. Both have requested that CAS, which has set up special courts in Rio, declare “invalid and unenforceable” an International Olympic Committee order for federations to exclude athletes implicated in an investigation on doping in Russia.
Contrary to recent media reports, the eligibility of Russian swimmers Vladimir Morozov and Nikita Lobintsev to compete at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 has not been confirmed, and will not be confirmed until the IOC’s three-person commission to review Russian entrants renders its final decision on these athletes, along with the other members of the Russian swimming team.
“In some other sports clean athletes are suspended from the competitions without any justification or evidence just because they are mentioned in McLaren report”.
Trojan Swim Club veteran and world-class breaststroker Yulia Efimova, who served a 16-month doping ban and was suspended again in March, has been withdrawn from the Games by Russian Olympic Committee, according to FINA.
Lobintsev also won the silver medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay at Beijing 2008.
Lobintsev will be among those competing in Rio with a positive test for meldonium, but no penalty, to his name.
But he only admitted taking it before it was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list at the start of this year.
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McEvoy, fastest man in the world this year in the 100m freestyle, said he wasn’t concerned about the outcome of the second-ranked Morozov’s appeal.
