Four unnamed members of the 13-strong squad arrived in Rio on Monday and were immediately isolated from the rest of the Australian Olympic team.
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Volleyball’s world governing body FIVB said that Russian athletes had been tested at the same level as all other countries and the majority of the testing had been conducted outside of Russia clearing the way for the both the men’s and women’s indoor and beach volleyball teams compete in Brazil.
With four more days to go until the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Rio 2016, the IOC Executive Board met with the IOC Athletes’ Commission this morning to discuss important topics ranging from the protection of clean athletes, athletes’ representation in National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Federations (IFs), to IOC Athlete Programmes, and the Commission’s mission during the Games and the elections now underway.
The McLaren report detailed a plot involving Russia’s sports ministry and secret service to switch urine samples using a hole in the laboratory wall.
Pound’s reports led to the suspension of the Russian athletics federation by the IAAF and an all but complete ban of the Russian athletics team from Rio.
England hopes that such precautions will keep Britain focused on breaking their away-from-home record of 47 Olympic medals, set at Beijing in 2008 before Team GB, as hosts, finished third on the table at London 2012.
The Russian Olympic team have been the target of allegations of state-sponsored doping ahead of the Games which open on Friday.
But WADA president Sir Craig Reedie defended the agency’s response to available evidence of Russian doping, and the timing of the McLaren Report’s release on July 18, in a statement on Monday.
An aerial view of the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, taken yesterday.
Rio de Janeiro will deliver a successful Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Sunday, despite delays in preparations, lack of funds and the country suffering from its biggest political and economic turmoil in decades.
“If we can achieve this, then the fight against doping will have some kind of final effect”, he said.
Bach insisted the International Olympic Committee could not be held responsible for the timing of the McLaren Report and the subsequent scramble to assess the eligibility of Russian athletes to compete at the Rio Olympics, which start on Friday, and suggested WADA could have acted sooner on evidence provided by Russian whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova.
“We’ll keep them in isolation, Dr David Hughes will keep a close eye on them”, she told Nine News.
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Expert to Rio athletes: “Don’t put your head under water”.
