The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said late on July 30 that a three-member panel will have the final say on which Russian athletes can compete at the 2016 Olympics.
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“This panel will decide whether to accept or reject that final proposal”, said IOC spokesman Mark Adams, while specifying that it is to include Juan Antonio Samaranch, former IOC president from 1980 to 2001; Uğur Erdener, the head of the IOC Medical Commission; and Claudia Bokel, IOC Executive Board Member and Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission.
The IOC has said any Russian athlete with a doping past, including Stepanova, would not be allowed to compete in Rio as it tightened controls following the fallout from the doping scandal involving their country.
So far, more than two-thirds of the Russian team is cleared to compete.
Adams said the process would be completed by August 5, the day the 2016 Olympics open in Rio de Janeiro.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will hold an emergency session in Rio on Sunday to hear their appeal, according to sources close to the case.
Lobintsev and U.S.-based Morozov were part of Russia’s bronze-medal winning 4x100m freestyle team at the London 2012 Games, while Lobintsev also won a silver medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay at Beijing 2008.
“We trust that we could also clarify that the International Olympic Committee ruling on previously banned Russian athletes does not apply to Yulia as she was declared eligible to run”.
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The two swimmers were suspended after they were named in relation to the “disappearing positives” revelations – false reporting of positive samples – in a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-led independent report into doping in Russian Federation.
