Russian Federation has chose to put together a tournament for the athletes who were denied the chance to compete at this year’s Rio Olympics due to, you know, years of systematic drug cheating. “In Russia there is not and never has been any state support for doping”.
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The federation chose to organise the three-hour competition after the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week rejected athletes’ appeals against the IAAF ban.
As the athletes walked across Red Square to meet Putin, some posed for selfies with Vitaly Mutko, whose sports ministry was accused by the World Anti-Doping Agency of orchestrating the doping cover-up. But there were “no grounds for further review”, the organization said Wednesday.
Rio organizers said 1,129 athletes and 2,449 staff members would be living in the village on Thursday. “CAS considered the appeals of the (other) 67 athletes fully and rejected them”.
The Russian leader, however, praised the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which, “in spite of the huge open pressure on it”, abstained from splitting the Olympic movement and granted international sports federations the right to admit athletes to the Games.
The governing body said it would allow the 16 Russian fencers who have qualified for the Rio Games to compete and it approved four reserves.
“Sixteen of the 17 Russian wrestlers entered to compete at the Olympic Games are cleared to be considered for acceptance by the International Olympic Committee/Court of Arbitration for Sport”, a statement from UWW’s special commission read.
WADA said that Russian athletes had cheated in at least 30 sports, including cycling, and advocated banning the country from Rio 2016.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russian track and field athletes are victims of “discrimination” that the country is “not going to put up with”.
Instead, sports fans around the world will be watching their athletes compete in a games overshadowed by scandal and suspicion.
Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has become a de facto spokeswoman for Russian athletes excluded from the Olympics and gave a tearful address to the team in the Kremlin on Wednesday.
The IOC in June unveiled its first team of refugees which will have 10 members and 12 officials and will compete under the Olympic flag, as part of its decision to highlight the plight of refugees worldwide. Many sports would really like to be discussing a Bolt in their ranks: “they don’t and they can’t”, said IAAF president Sebastian Coe who still believes that other track stars deserve the Rio spotlight.
Of the 68 Russians initially scheduled to compete, only one-Darya Klishina, a long jumper who trains in the USA -has been cleared for Brazil.
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Explaining Rule 40, US Olympic Committee chief marketing officer Lisa Baird said: “Commercial entities may not post about the Games on their corporate social media accounts”.
