Kirill Sveshnikov and Dmitry Sokolov are reportedly two of the three names mentioned in Dr Richard McLaren’s report into systematic doping among Russian athletes. It called the punishment an “appropriate sanction” to “preserve the status of the sport”. Currently, according to Russia’s sports minister, 272 of the original 387 athletes are still scheduled to compete in the Games as of now.
Advertisement
The Badminton World Federation cleared Russia to compete, saying that the players had been subject to a rigorous drug-testing programme in the lead-up to the Games.
The International Weightlifting Federation [IWF] has followed athletics lead and imposed a blanket ban on the Russian weightlifting team.
In justifying its actions against Russia, the IWF said retests of samples from seven Russian weightlifters who took part in the 2008 Beijing Olympics or 2012 London Olympics resulted in positive tests.
The IOC says the Joint Integrity Intelligence Unit will work with experts from the Rio organizing committee in the athletes village and “behind the scenes” at the games.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed “pure discrimination” against Russian athletes in the doping scandal and he attended a farewell ceremony for the team on Wednesday.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) banned all eight Russian contenders – five men and three women – entered for Rio.
Isinbayeva had applied again for an individual exemption but was refused by the IAAF, track’s world governing body.
The Rio 2016 Olympics begin August 5.
Russians hoping to compete in the boxing, golf, gymnastics, handball and taekwondo are still waiting to hear from the respective federations on whether they will be banned or not.
Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva – who recently started a public campaign in order to have her ban from the Olympics lifted but was later denied – addressed the crowd before the meet.
Advertisement
The 19 were excluded because World Rowing said they had not been tested often enough by reliable worldwide authorities.
