Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova has been officially added to the start lists for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
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And with the opening ceremony going on there was a chance that more could still join the squad as a Russian wrestler and a sailor still had appeals pending at the world sport tribunal.
“I couldn’t be more proud and relieved”.
The 24-year-old Efimova has been a flashpoint in the scandal because she not only served a 16-month suspension for doping, she tested positive again this year for the now-banned substance meldonium.
She faced a lifetime ban as a two-time offender.
“Greece originally had 94 athletes across 19 sports in Rio for the Games”.
The Independent Panel of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ruled on Friday to allow Russian swimmers Nikita Lobintsev and Vladimir Morozov to participate in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. But it appears they have also been cleared to compete.
TASS also reported CAS turned down appeals against Olympic bans for Russian cyclists Kirill Svechnikov, Dmitri Sokolov and Dmitri Strakhov.
The Guardian quoted Professor Richard McLaren, whose explosive report blew the Russian doping programme wide open last month, as accusing the International Olympic Committee and Bach of badly misrepresenting his findings.
Rosie MacLennan, Canada’s only gold medallist from the 2012 London Olympics, wore a wide grin as she waved the Maple Leaf as the team’s flag-bearer.
He did vow, though, to continue his criticism and call for an Extraordinary IOC Session to take place next year in order to discuss the problem of doping.
McLaren, who was commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to investigate the claims of a Russian whistleblower, said his findings were never meant to prove individual doping cases.
The build-up to the Rio Games has been overshadowed by revelations of widespread state-sponsored doping in Russian Federation. Subsequently, the Russian national team was removed from participation in the Rio Olympics. The IOC boss said the sports extravaganza would send a message of hope to the watching world.
But Bach has also faced criticism from countries who feel he was too soft on Russian Federation.
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“We want to tell Bach: game over, you may leave”, said Ines Geipel, a former sprinter who now heads an association to help the thousands of ex-athletes involved in the former East German state’s doping programme.
