Russian Federation has denied any government backing for doping but its sports minister Vitaly Mutko has been barred from attending the Rio Games.
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A three-man International Olympic Committee panel has cleared more than 80 Russian athletes to compete at the Rio Olympics.
A boy prepares his kite before flying it at the Babilonia slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016.
“I’m honored to be chosen, proud to represent the U.S., and humbled by the significance of carrying the flag and all it stands for”, said Phelps, who will be swimming in his fifth Olympics.
Not even Dick Pound of Canada, an outspoken critic of the decision not to implement a full ban, opposed Bach and the executive board on Tuesday.
Olympics chief Thomas Bach called for a complete overhaul of the global anti-doping system yesterday after revelations of state-backed cheating by Russian Federation rocked preparations for the Rio Games.
“Our track and field athletes are in a hard situation and I am very sorry for them”.
Last month World Sailing said Sozykin had been denied eligibility for the Rio games because of the findings of the McLaren report commissioned by the World Anti-doping Agency.
Doping tests consist of taking a urine sample or a blood sample or both.
Baseball and softball – seen as sports that appeal to the youth of Japan – skateboarding, surfing and sports climbing all take the Games in the direction of a youth market, something Bach was pushing hard.
Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov told reporters earlier that 271 of his country’s athletes had been cleared.
That has allowed for nine men and two women to compete for Russian Federation at the upcoming Olympic games.
“This is really a milestone in the innovation of the Olympic program, which we can then experience in four years from now in Tokyo 2020”, Bach said.
“We had to follow the rules of justice and justice has to be independent from politics”, Bach said. The eight-strong Russian team was banned for a combination of previous doping positives and inclusion in the McLaren investigation on July 29. “For me the principle of collective punishment is unacceptable”. “The youth of today have so many options for their leisure time you can not just wait for these young people to go to sport”.
“The IOC is calling for a more robust and efficient anti-doping system”.
The strongest criticism came from Canadian member Dick Pound, a former president of WADA who has been outspoken in calling for a complete ban on Russian Federation – something he had previously called “the nuclear option”.
“It is not the International Olympic Committee that is responsible for the accreditation and supervision of anti-doping laboratories”, he said. “The hesitation makes it looks worse and worse”. In 2011, it annulled the IOC’s so-called “Osaka rule”, which would have barred any athlete who had received a serious doping punishment from the subsequent Olympics. Some sports, such as gymnastics, were not cited in the report and feel there is no justification to ban Russians.
Wrestling accounted for 28 of the 312 positive tests that were covered up by Russian Federation between 2011 and 2015, according to McLaren’s report. Do I have time to process these cases? “If I try to ban someone, they will take us to court and we will lose”. “They have to pay”.
Zhukov also took a swipe at WADA. It’s a no-win situation. “The decision has been made, it’s not going to be changed between now and the start of the games”.
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It is adopted by more than 600 sports organizations, including worldwide sports federations, national anti-doping organizations including the global Olympic Committee (IOC).
