Ex-doping official slams world agency: The former chief investigator for the World Anti-Doping Agency says his efforts to investigate Russian doping were repeatedly delayed by the agency’s president, who preferred to privately settle matters with Russian officials.
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AIBA said it had been notified of the decision by the International Olympic Committee’s three-member panel, responsible for reviewing the eligibility of all Russian athletes who are approved to compete by their international federations.
Following months of investigation, the International Olympic Committee recently chose to let each sports’ individual federation determine whether to let Russian athletes participate.
The IOC asked global sports federations to decide which Russian athletes should be cleared to compete after a review of their doping records.
Confusion had surrounded the exact number of participants following the release of Richard McLaren’s explosive report into Russia’s state-run doping programme last month.
The exclusion of almost a third of Russia’s athletes for their ties to a government-sanctioned doping program was a blow to the integrity of the Olympics and will severely diminish Russia’s presence across several sports here.
But it was then decided for legal reasons to drop the Osaka Rule in favour of doubling the length of doping bans from two to four years for serious offences – a timeline that automatically covers the following Olympics.
The federation, FEI, says the International Olympic Committee cleared the horses and eventing riders Aleksandr Markov, Andrey Mitin and Evgeniya Ovchinnikova, and dressage competitors Inessa Merkulova and Marina Aframeeva.
We’re not sure how he arrived at that conclusion, but Zhukov was keen to emphasise that although over 100 Russians remain banned from competition, the rest have been cleared by the International Olympic Committee after investigations from a panel that included Ugur Erdener, Claudia Bokel and Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr.
Five Russian swimmers remained banned, but all of its water polo players, synchronized swimmers and divers have been allowed into the games. The men’s volleyball team is the defending Olympic champion. Many began moving into the Olympic Village on Thursday. It is unclear whether she will be competing for the Russian team or as an independent athlete.
Riot police Thursday escorted the Olympic torch relay ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. “We will look into it and will come to certain conclusions and suggestions so that measures would be taken to rule it out, to restore confidence in the athletes who are innocent and to embellish the Olympics with our presence”.
“The vice consul got into a physical confrontation with the aggressor, and during the fight, the assailant’s gun was sacked several times”, said the police statement.
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The IOC announced the go-ahead for 271 Russian athletes about 24 hours before the opening ceremony.
