“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.
Advertisement
Only one athlete from each sport can be elected, though, and Isinbayeva is one of five from track and field on the list, four of whom are former Olympic champions.
“I couldn t be more proud and relieved”.
Efimova had been disqualified from competing by swimming governing body FINA between October 2013 and February 2015 after testing positive for traces of the anabolic steroid DHEA.
He said: “Athletes such as Yelena Isinbayeva and Sergey Shubenkov who have never been associated with the issue of doping and who are absolutely clean can not take part in the Olympics Games, but many sportsmen like, for example, the American runner Justin Gatlin, who have served doping bans, will”.
All the Russian swimmers have been reprieved following appeals to CAS, the head of the Russian delegation, Igor Kazikov, told Tass news agency.
Robertson, a former agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, laid most of the blame for the mishandling of the doping allegations on WADA President Craig Reedie, who is also a vice president of the International Olympic Committee, and who, according to Robertson, was “more committed to preserving his (Russian) friends’ reputations than discovering the truth”.
But the International Olympic Committee said “rigorous” extra testing would be imposed on Russians allowed into the Games. We say that not so much out of concern for the results of the Games themselves, which are bound to provide the usual portion of thrills, chills – and accusations of various transgressions by participants and officials.
The Olympic spirit represents the best of human nature, aspiring to friendly and honest competition among the athletes from all the countries of the world.
Last time out at the 2012 London Games, China won a total of 88 medals (38 Gold, 29 Silver and 21 Bronze) to finish second on the medal table, behind the US, who had a total of 103 medals. Some have already been taken away because of doping offences however. McLaren insisted his findings were proved beyond reasonable doubt and revealed he had supporting evidence in a secret location.
Advertisement
“The consistently cowardly manner in which the IOC deals with Russian Federation is no more than pure cynicism”, she charged, adding that “lies and cover-ups are becoming the norm while the Olympic charter and good sense is being turned into laughing stocks”. The decision goes with CAS’ previous decision against the so-called Osaka-rule, which established that the International Olympic Committee could not exclude former doping sanctioned athletes from the Olympics as this would punish them twice for the same offence.
