Russia’s banned track and field team are to compete in their own event in the wake of their Rio Olympics ban.
Advertisement
Among those excluded are 67 out of 68 from the athletics team.
The IAAF, of course, had already made its judgement, accepting only the applications of long jumper Darya Klishina and 800m runner Yuliya Stepanova, who was subsequently blocked by the International Olympic Committee for having previously served a drugs ban.
WADA’s investigation found that the Russian government was complicit in an elaborate state-sponsored doping program spanning four years, from 2011 to 2015.
“The situation went beyond the legal field as well as common sense”, Putin told the audience, which included numerous banned athletes.
The Central Bank of Brazil expects that the delegations and tourists in Rio for the Olympic Games will leave behind revenue worth around US$200 million (S$271.65 million), it said in a statement on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, world rowing federation FISA said Russian boats in four categories, including the women’s eights, were being withdrawn following the strict anti-doping criteria announced by the International Olympic Committee after allegations of widespread doping and cover-ups in Russia.
The IOC’s response was to pass the responsibility for decisions on Russia’s participation in Rio to the 28 worldwide sports federations that govern each sport in the summer programme.
In short, Bach is allowing the worldwide sports federations to rule on the eligibility of the individual athletes.
There was positive news, however, from Putin’s ally, Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire who is president of the International Fencing Federation.
Putin last week called for the creation of a new state-backed anti-doping commission to draw up future strategy.
In other sports there was some good news for Moscow as the world governing body for fencing said all 16 Russians down to compete had been cleared.
“As soon as we show our programmes, there are elements that are taken and copied”, Russia’s star synchro athlete Romashina said.
Russian entries to the Olympics must still be examined and upheld by an expert from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Because the global governing bodies of individual sports, especially ones with fewer resources, will be hard-pressed to vet so many athletes in the handful of days remaining before the August 5 games opening, the integrity of every Russian competitor will now be tainted, even those who compete cleanly.
He spoke after the IAAF said there were “no grounds for further review” of its original decision.
Advertisement
Mutko, who was named in McLaren’s report for being involved in the cover-up of a footballer’s positive test, has been told to stay away from Rio by the International Olympic Committee but posed for selfies with members of the Russian team at the farewell event in Moscow.
