“The integrity of the weightlifting sport has been seriously damaged on multiple times and levels by the Russians”, the IWF said in a statement.
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A three-member IOC panel 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, will make the “final decision” on the Russian team, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.
Instead, they asked individual federations to make the call on who should be cleared for the Games.
Track and field star Shi Dongpeng told the press that a piece of baggage placed in front of the check-in desk was stolen one minute after he was spat on by a local and went to the toilet to clean himself.
The IOC has said any Russian athlete with a doping past, including Stepanova, would not be allowed to compete in Rio as it tightened controls following the fallout from the doping scandal involving their country.
The IOC’s ruling executive board opens a two-day meeting today, its last formal gathering before Friday’s opening ceremony at Maracana Stadium.
Rio’s troubled preparations for the Games, which start on Friday, also occupied the International Olympic Committee executive who heard on Saturday from chief Rio organiser Carlos Nuzman.
Australian Olympic team members returned to their building at the Rio Olympic Athletes Village after smoke from a small fire in the basement prompted an evacuation.
Following the decision on Monday (July 25), both Efimova’s agent Andrew Mitkov and Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko had announced she planned to take her case to CAS. The IOC executive committee decided not to ban the Russian team. In addition to 67 track and field athletes already banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), 44 further competitors have joined the lengthening list of Russians who have been officially excluded from Brazil.
Russia’s eight-member weightlifting team was kicked out of the games on Friday for what the global federation called “extremely shocking” doping results that brought the sport into “disrepute”.
Most federations have not excluded Russians on the basis of a lack of testing, but rowing and weightlifting are the exceptions.
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Craig Reedie, who is also an International Olympic Committee vice-president, is to give a report on the agency’s activities on Saturday.
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Rio’s preparations, meanwhile, remain clouded on several fronts, including budget cuts, water pollution, slow ticket sales, and concerns over crime and the Zika virus. The games come with the president awaiting an impeachment trial and the country gripped by a severe recession.
