Two-time Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva has denied claims she was offered the chance to be Russia’s flagbearer at the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony, despite not being able to compete at the Games due to the athletics team’s ban.
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Dressed in red and white sports uniforms the Olympic hopefuls – including Russia’s volleyball, handball and synchronised swimming squads – received a warm send-off despite the scandal over state-run doping that has seen over 100 competitors banned.
Worldwide sports federations are now scrambling to vet Russian athletes as time ticks down to the start of the Games on August 5.
“We can’t accept indiscriminate disqualification of our athletes with an absolutely clean doping history”, Putin told an audience in Red Square that included banned athletes.
Putin’s send-off to Russian Olympic athletes, which took place inside the Kremlin, included accusations that the IAAF and others in the global community brought charges against Russian athletes as, “an attempt to bring the rules of world politics into the world of sport”.
That formed the basis for the first independent WADA report last November, which led to the current ban on Russian track and field athletes from competing internationally.
Some one million tourists are expected in Rio for the Olympic games. Other sports, such as judo and tennis, have allowed the entire Russian team in their event to compete.
The trio were not named but are understood to be recent Tour de France stage victor Ilnur Zakarin, double Olympic bronze medal victor Olga Zabelinskaya and team pursuiter Sergey Shilov – all three have served doping bans in the past.
BOXING – The International Boxing Association is yet to announce a decision on 11 Russian boxers.
“The Brazilians will solve them, and you can already feel the Olympic energy here at the airport and in the city with all the smiling volunteers full of excitement”.
Rowing’s worldwide governing body announced it would ban 22 of 28 Russian competitors, which created room for Australia women’s eight team to make a last-minute dash to Rio.
The Russian national team’s final composition for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be approved on July 30, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told journalists on Friday.
Putin last week called for the creation of a new state-backed anti-doping commission to draw up future strategy.
“I heard that there are many problems, like in the bathroom without hot water, or toilets that do not flush”, said Taku Murakami, a member of the Japanese gymnastics team.
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Smirnov also insisted that the government was not involved in doping, despite allegations in the report for WADA by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren that sports ministry officials oversaw a mass doping program and a cover-up.
