Usain Bolt looked in fine shape for the Olympics by winning his last race before Rio de Janeiro on his return from injury.
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The Paralympic Committee plans to announce during the week of August 1 whether it will suspend Russia’s team.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach’s reluctance to ban Russian Federation from the Rio Games and name newly-found drug cheats from Beijing and London has made a mockery of an organisation that predecessor Jacques Rogge fought so hard to clean up.
Should a ban be imposed, NPC Russia would have 21 days to lodge an appeal.
Australian Paralympic Committee chief Lynne Anderson spoke in support of the move by the IPC, and said the committee would fully support any move to suspend NPC Russia from Rio based on the findings of the McLaren Report.
The IAAF praised the decision, saying: “Today’s judgment has created a level playing field for athletes”.
IPC president Sir Philip Craven thanked McLaren for his cooperation.
The International Olympic Committee’s ruling executive board is meeting Sunday via teleconference to decide on sanctions following new allegations of a government-backed doping program involving Russian athletes in summer and winter sports.
They are also sending 19 samples from the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games held in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi for immediate further analysis, after they were identified as having been potentially doctored as part of a sample-swapping regime.
The agencies also called for the establishment of a “task force” to “apply a uniform set of criteria to determine whether individual Russian athletes should be permitted to participate in the Rio Olympic Games under a neutral flag”.
Since the first allegations emerged, Putin has denied any state-sponsored doping in Russian Federation, repeating, nearly verbatim, the same phrase he told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in June: “I can tell you with full responsibility that we’re against any doping”.
“So, somewhat reluctantly, I am led to one conclusion: exclusion from Rio”. The IOC is to take a final call, but it does appear we will have Olympic track and field competitions without the Russians.
“The official position of Russian authorities – the government, president, all of us – is that there’s no place and can’t be any place for doping in sports”.
The IOC said the previous first wave of retests had found 30 positive cases from Beijing and 23 from London.
The number of additional positive tests – comprising 30 athletes from Beijing and 15 from London – takes the total number of athletes who have failed doping tests during the period of reanalysis so far to 98.
The names and nationalities of the 45 athletes who were recently unmasked have not yet been disclosed.
“We hope that by allowing participation of Russian athletes in Rio 2016, we will send out a positive message to all the young people who deserve to be given examples of friendship instead of examples of Cold War”, said IJF president Marius Vizer.
The IOC said Sibel Ozkan tested positive for stanozolol and was ordered to return her medal in the 48-kilogram class.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach (pictured) said: “The new reanalysis once again shows the commitment of the International Olympic Committee in the fight against doping”.
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Olympics: Russia’s track and field athletes are fuming about the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to uphold their doping ban.
