“Russia welcomes the decision to allow clean athletes to participate in the Rio Olympics”. Any Russian athlete that did was already being less than honest; knowing about a centralized system of cheating and not reporting arguably makes you a guilty party.
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After the launch, the Olympic Channel intends to focus on growing partnerships with other Olympic stakeholders such as National Olympic Committees and rights-holding stakeholders. It’s an idea that’s been bandied about for years, but one that has finally gotten off the ground, and there’s plenty of potential as something to promote and keep track of Olympic athletes and sports between the Games.
Another one of the athletes not listed to compete is Yuliya Stepanova who, despite being a Russian athlete barred from competing in Rio, probably isn’t too popular in the Motherland after blowing the lid on the doping going on in the country.
International Cycling Union president Brian Cookson said on Sunday that it would be ” hard to ban an entire team”, and so it proved.
“For the sceptics it will taint absolutely everything we see”, she told CNN in a telephone interview from Font Romeu in the south of France, where she is working with British track and field athletes preparing for Rio.
It is not clear who will be on the Russian team for the Games.
Earlier in July, the Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) prohibited all Russian athletes from taking part in worldwide competitions, including the upcoming Rio Olympics, except long jump athlete Darya Klishina, who trains in the United States. In his native Germany, IOC President Thomas Bach is facing increasing criticism for failing to impose a complete ban on Russia’s team.
More than 100 have now been banned, with dozens more expected to follow once their drug-testing records have been assessed by an independent arbiter from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Miller works full-time, spent $15,000 of his own money and committed to 15 years of training trying to get to Rio, only to nearly have his dream dashed by a doper. ‘We need to fight for those athletes who were disqualified’. They include Ivan Podshivalov and Anastasia Karabelshchikova, who were excluded because they previously served doping bans, while Ivan Balandin from Russia’s men’s eight was implicated in the McLaren report, World Rowing said.
“I am good friends with Goldie Sayers and what happened to her at Beijing in 2008 must be so tough to take”, says Katarina, as she reflects on the story of the British javelin thrower who is set to be handed a belated bronze medal after silver medalist Mariya Abakumova was found to have been part of the Russian doping programme. “The changes that we had in the last few years are unbelievable”, he said adding that “so, now we start the party, the celebration and a great celebration of sports”.
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“The IOC had a chance to do the opposite, to revolutionize and take the Games back to where it was at the inception of [founder of the modern Games] Pierre de Coubertin, and take a huge step for cleaning up the sport”. “I sincerely wish you to show all your talents and skills, to show the whole world that we know how to win honestly and openly”.
