“The IAAF Doping Review Board has agreed that Russian long jump athlete Darya Klishina meets the exceptional eligibility criteria to compete in global competition as a neutral athlete”, the IAAF said on its website.
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“If CAS says the Russian athletes have the right to compete at the Games, as well as at all worldwide competitions, the bans will be removed automatically”.
“Exactly these refusals and the reasons for those the Russian Olympic Committee and 68 athletes in their claim to CAS will be arguing”.
It said Klishina’s participation was still subject to acceptance by the IOC.
However, the IAAF rejected 67 appeal, and only accepted the appeal of jumper Darya Klishina.
Yet to be decided is under which flag Russian athletes granted exceptional eligibility would compete in Rio. Stepanova lives and trains in the United States, and competed in the recent European Championships following her ban.
“Our athletes are punished for some abstract, hardly legally punishable action, actually on suspicion”, the Russian sports minister said.
Her post of gratitude to the IAAF and supporters on social media was met by a wave of criticism in Russia, where many felt she showed little solidarity for other Russian athletes who would not compete.
Evgeny Trofimov, the coach of two-time Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva, also told TASS that his athlete – who does have a residence in Monte Carlo but has spent the a year ago in Russian Federation – has already been deemed ineligible. IAAF did not take into consideration the fact that in the last six months all and every candidate to the Russian National team has been subjected to additional testing done by foreign anti – doping organizations in accordance with IAAF instructions.
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WADA’s Independent Commission published on November 9 previous year results of its probe into the activity of the All-Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF), the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) and the Russian Sports Ministry. But the IAAF also approved a measure allowing individuals to compete as “neutral athletes” if they can show they have been regularly tested by a reliable agency.
