The sports chief of the Russian Olympic team in Rio says Russian athletes who arrived in Brazil early are under scrutiny of WADA doping agents.
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The pole vault world record holder was also among 68 clean Russian athletes that appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne challenging the decision made by the IAAF, which, they argued, infringed on their human rights.
The NOC president and International Olympic Committee member went as far as to say that the Russian delegation allowed in Rio will be the cleanest, a likely outcome considering the intensified scrutiny Russian athletes are facing. “People have tried to break us down, but it’s never worked”.
Thus far, somewhere in the neighborhood of 115 Russian athletes have been specifically excluded, including 7 swimmers to date, with very few worldwide sports federations (IFs) having yet to make a decision on the IOC’s directive to place higher standards than “never having tested positive” on selection. “Today we can show what we were striving for these past four years”.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) sparked fierce criticism from outside Russia on Sunday when it resisted a blanket ban on the country in favour of allowing individual sports federations to make the call on which Russians can go to Rio. “We haven’t seen our competitors yet, the Chinese competitors”. “We had no other options, plus it’s good prize money”. The meet included prize money that amounted to 100,000 roubles for winners, 50,000 roubles for runners-up, and 30,000 roubles for 3rd-place finishers (about $1,500, $750, and $450, respectively).
“One US official told me the workers were unprepared, working with water on the floor, working with electricity and wearing no protection; wearing flip-flops”, Andrada said.
IOC President Thomas Bach announced on Sunday that Russian athletes, with the exception of field and track competitors, were allowed to participate in the 2016 Summer Olympics based on individual approval of each respective global sports federation or association.
Several spectators in the crowd said they believed the doping allegations were politicised and the competition was an important sign of defiance.
This follows a previous report by the same agency documenting rampant doping among Russia’s track and field athletes.
Officials said that the terrorism suspect, a Brazilian citizen, was arrested Wednesday at his home in Nova Iguacu, in Rio de Janeiro state.
Irina Maksimova, a librarian, said she believed the doping allegations were part of a plot to take away the 2018 World Cup from Russian Federation.
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London Olympic canoe slalom silver medallist Jessica Fox said she was delighted with the news.
