Recently, the IOC opted not to issue a total ban of Russian athletes, so as not to punish those who are legitimately clean and not acting above the Olympic rules and in violation of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
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FINA excluded Efimova again by putting her among seven Russian swimmers banned from the Olympics after an investigation by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren for WADA found widespread state-backed doping in Russia.
“We can do an appeal in 24 hours, so anything is possible”, Matthieu Reeb, secretary-general of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), told Reuters when asked if there was enough time for other athletes to have their ban overturned.
The Games’ ruling body said on Saturday those decisions would now be reviewed by an independent panel consisting of Ugur Erdener, the IOC’s medical commission chairman, Germany’s Claudia Bokel and fellow International Olympic Committee member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr.
“Not one team underwent such strict requirements as Russian athletes”, Zhukov told a news conference in Rio on Thursday.
A spokesman for the Russian Olympic Committee said Efimova was already in Rio.
The two Russian women boxers who will compete at Rio are Anastassiia Beliakova (60kg) and Iaroslava Iakushina (75kg).
Several global federations announced separately that they had received the final approval for Russian entries in their events, including boxing, judo, equestrian, volleyball and golf.
Russia’s track and field team had already been suspended in separate action by the sport’s governing body, the IAAF, following similar revelations of state-backed doping previous year.
But Ukrainian Sport Minister Igor Zhdanov said he was unhappy to see some Kiev athletes criticise the International Olympic Committee for banning some Russians from Rio at all.
Russian Olympic gold medal-winners said the team had been galvanised by the fall-out of revelations of state-orchestrated doping on a grand scale.
IOC President Thomas Bach again defended the decision not to ban the entire Russian Olympic team, insisting that athletes can not be punished for the wrongdoing of their government.
While many Russian Olympians never used drugs, IOC President Thomas Bach said that the seriousness of doping charges placed the presumption of innocence for individual athletes in doubt.
“Although we are heartbroken, we wish to clarify that we have from the beginning chosen to not follow a judicial path”, the couple said in a statement. This is destroying justice.
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In Rio de Janeiro, Portugal defeated two-time Olympic champion Argentina 2-0 with goals by Paciencia in the 66th and Pite in the 84th.
