The two were barred from the games by swimming’s world governing body, FINA, in line with the new criteria for Russian athletes announced by the International Olympic Committee.
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The Russian sports minister said 272 of the original 387 athletes selected to compete had been cleared to go to the games, which start 5 August. Other sports have banned individual Russians but not all of the eligible athletes.
A report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said there had been state-run doping, aided by the Russian secret service, at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
“This is our guideline as we must dispel all doubts for young athletes so that they continue practicing their sports”, the two-time Olympic champion added.
The three-member panel is made up of Ugur Erdener, president of World Archery and head of the IOC medical and scientific commission, Claudia Bockel of the IOC athletes commission, and Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch.
The IWF said the ban also applied to Russia’s technical official for the Rio Games, whose appointment was withdrawn.
Rio de Janeiro: A ban on all Russian weightlifters dealt a new blow to the country’s image ahead of an International Olympic Committee meeting Saturday that will be dominated by multiple doping scandals.
Brazil’s federal government has severed its contract with a security firm that was supposed to operate x-ray machines during the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Russian Federation says its taekwondo team was approved.
“The [Russian Weightlifting] Federation will do everything in its power to rehabilitate us, but it is impossible to do it before the Olympics; there is no time to do anything”, Russian weightlifter Aleksey Lovchev told RT, commenting on the IWF decision.
“Yes, they have indeed filed lawsuits at the CAS”, Artyom Patsev said.
Mutko expects Russian Federation to be present in all but five sports at the Games – they did not qualify in basketball, football, hockey and rugby – but with a team heavily reduced from the 387 initially announced.
The McLaren report found that the Moscow laboratory at the centre of Russia’s state-sponsored doping programme hid 117 positive weightlifting tests over a four-year period – a figure second only to track and field.
Lobintsev won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Games in the 4×100 freestyle relay.
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‘At the moment I can tell you we will be present in 29 of the 34 sports, with 266 athletes, ‘ he said.
