Russia’s Ekaterina Galitskaya competes in the women’s 100m hurdles final at a track and field meet called “Stars of 2016” in Moscow, an event arranged for athletes who have been banned from the Rio Olympics. The IOC has banned more than 100 Russian athletes from the Rio Games but decided against a blanket ban. Pound said the International Olympic Committee move to make individual federations decide which Russians could take part was “an abandonment of its responsibility”.
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The Independent Commission of WADA, chaired by Canadian law professor, Richard McLaren, released the now-infamous July 18 report on the results of a probe into the accusations of doping and manipulation of tests by Russian athletes and officials at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. The IOC boss said the sports extravaganza would send a message of hope to the watching world.
The International Olympic Committee announced the go-ahead for 271 Russian athletes on Thursday night, about 24 hours before the opening ceremony of the games.
The Russian 800-meter runner and her husband, Vitaly Stepanov, a former Russian Anti-Doping Agency employee, said they would not appeal their case for reinstatement further to CAS. Instead, we asked that she be restored to the position she would have been in had she never risked everything by exposing Russia’s state-dictated doping program.
The IOC’s decision is going down well in Russian Federation.
More than 250’000 people have signed a petition to ask the International Olympic Committee to review their decision.
“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”.
At a USOC news conference Friday, Probst echoed Bach in saying the decision had wide support among athletes, including all eight athlete representatives on the IOC. Some for revenge, some for money, some for lighter punishments, some to atone for sins. Yulia was not even seeking a reduction of her sentence.
Karabelshikova and Podshivalov also argued that they should be allowed to compete given they had already served their doping suspensions.
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I am sure that we will continue to be inspired throughout the entire 19 days of the competition by spectacular moments of strength, speed, skill, and perseverance as athletes from around the world compete for a spot on the Olympic podium.
