Russian President Vladimir Putin hit out at “discrimination” against the country’s banned track and field athletes at a Kremlin send-off ceremony for its depleted Olympic team.
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“The integrity of the weightlifting sport has been seriously damaged on multiple times and levels by the Russians”, the IWF said in a statement.
Two female weightlifters – Tatiana Kashirina and Anastasiia Romanova – were withdrawn by the Russian federation for earlier doping offenses.
It would not have been possible for the July 27 editorial “A shadow over the Games” to adequately express the revulsion that should be heaped on the International Olympic Committee for allowing individual athletic federations to decide which Russian athletes should be allowed to participate in the Olympic Games.
Russia’s eight weightlifting berths in the Olympics have been offered to other countries. For the women, Albania, Georgia and Moldova became eligible.
The report of the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chaired by Canadian sports law professor Richard McLaren, is being scrutinised by the Russian Investigative Committee (IC), Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Friday.
Speaking just hours before the IWF’s decision was announced, he told Press Association Sport: “My personal opinion is if anyone has served a drug ban in any sport, they shouldn’t have the right to be able to compete in the greatest show on earth”.
“We would like to highlight the extremely shocking and disappointing statistics regarding the Russian weightlifters”, they said. “They’re training and they’re ready to go”.
However, Russia’s best-known track and field athlete, two-time Olympic gold medalist Yelena Isinbayeva, said she had been refused in her last attempt to make the team for Rio following the blanket ban on Russia in that sport.
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The passage of the Olympic torch through a southeastern Brazilian city was cut short Wednesday as police clashed with protesters who oppose the spending of federal funds on the Rio Games.
