The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) became the second sports body to ban the entire Russian team from participating in the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Advertisement
It has been a nerve-racking few weeks for the Russian athletes, as their participation in the Rio games was in jeopardy after more revelations in the doping scandal.
It’s this ban that now means Stepanova will not be able to compete in the Olympics, though the International Association of Athletics Federations raised her hopes earlier this year when it cleared her to compete in international competitions under a neutral flag.
“We’re after medals, that’s it”, handball player Anna Sen said. “The Olympic Channel will inspire us all and reach out to new generations of athletes and fans”.
“Earlier on Thursday, a statement from the sport’s world governing body the FIG said: “(We have) fully adhered to the criteria and process mandated by the International Olympic Committee for establishing a pool of eligible Russian athletes in gymnastics for the Rio Games.
Athletes will have to overcome a presumption of guilt, but given the limited time left before the Games, and the influence Moscow can bring to bear, overtly and otherwise, on the various federations, this is a dragnet through which many Russians will slip. In addition, all Russian athletes who have previously served a doping ban are not allowed to compete. “So this is our top priority now”, she said. “I think more generally we are fighting for the right cause and maybe for the way the whistleblowers are seen in the future”.
“All the athletes who will go to Rio or are already there won’t be broken”, she said, adding that Russians would compete in Rio “to spite everyone” and “rattle the world” with their performances.
There was good news for Russian Federation as its judo and shooting teams – comprised 11 and 18 athletes respectively – received approval to compete from their sports’ global governing bodies. These rulings must still be ratified by CAS.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) took the step following a series of suspicious test results at the Beijing and London Games.
Russia’s weightlifting team has been dogged by doping cases and faced further embarrassment on Wednesday when retests of samples from the 2012 Olympics saw four Russians test positive.
Advertisement
Smirnov told local media Thursday that the new commission would be independent of the government, despite containing several senior figures with links to the Kremlin. The man implicated himself in state-sponsored doping in a damning report by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren also continued his policy of questioning its veracity. “We will use tests that are validated by WADA and for which the reference material is available”, Budgett said. “In Russia there is not, and never has been, any state support for doping”.
