Leaving it up to individual sports organizations to decide which Russian athletes can come to Rio could lead to a more piecemeal result; some sports organizations are small and ill-equipped to assess hundreds of athletes in less than two weeks, while others have close ties to Russia.
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“I will be undoubtedly following the developments at the Olympic Games, except for track and field competitions”, Isinbayeva said in an interview with TASS.
With less than two weeks to go before the Rio Games, they don’t have time to conduct checks, meaning the Russians are coming, doped or not.
According to Putin, the decision to bar certain Russian competitors from Rio “does not only go beyond the legal sphere, it goes beyond common sense”.
The South African committee says facilities “look like being on a par with most Olympic athletes’ villages”, but noted the village wasn’t complete.
Fencers became the latest team of Russians to be cleared to compete in the Olympics by their sport’s governing body ahead of the Moscow ceremony, but the IAAF rejected a bid by the bulk of the track and field team to be reinstated.
The decision was discriminatory, amounted to a political campaign waged against Russian sports people and devalued any medals won in their absence, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said.
The International Canoe Federation was another sport to block several Russians, in its case five sprint canoeists, including London 2012 men’s K2 champion Alexander Dyachenko.
There have been 108 Russians banned from competing, including 67 out of 68 from the athletics team.
Fernando Prass did not practice on Tuesday after complaining of pain in his elbow and it remains unclear whether he will be fit to play the friendly against Japan on Saturday.
Russia’s track-and-field athletes are already barred over doping offences and seven Russian swimmers, including four-times breaststroke world champion Yulia Efimova, were ruled out of the Games in August yesterday.
But critics say governing bodies will have to do more to demonstrate that they can make their decisions independent of influence of Russian officials and businessmen who frequently hold leadership positions across worldwide sport.
That ban was upheld at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week. The decision comes following a scathing report by Canadian sports lawyer Richard McLaren, alleging that a state-sanctioned doping system was in effect at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. “There are no grounds for further review”.
He expressed confidence that despite the attempts to “cast a shadow” on the Russian athletes, they will be supported by millions of fans from different countries, especially from Russia.
“We await the Russian Rowing Federation’s decision on this possibility”, FISA said, adding that issues regarding Russian participation at the Paralympics would be dealt with at a later date.
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Mutko, who was named in McLaren’s report for being involved in the cover-up of a footballer’s positive test, has been told to stay away from Rio by the International Olympic Committee but posed for selfies with members of the Russian team at the farewell event in Moscow.
