Darya Klishina will be Russia’s only track and field athlete at Rio.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled early Monday that long jumper Darya Klishina is eligible to take part in Tuesday’s qualifying because she has been based outside of Russian Federation for the last three years and has been subjected to regular drug testing.
A source told the Reuters news agency that new evidence had emerged from a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigation, conducted by lawyer Richard Mclaren.
The IAAF didn’t disclose the nature of that information.
Klishina was reportedly sighted on the warm-up track at Rio’s Olympic Stadium on Sunday, prompting speculation she would still be able to compete under the Russian flag.
Klishina, the two-time European indoor champion, came in for criticism at home and was accused of being a traitor on some Russian social media sites.
Ahead of the CAS hearing, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said in commenting on Klishina’s case that the accusations against Russian athletes had been part of a “campaign directed against Russian sport, to discredit it. “(Having been) based in the U.S. for three years now, I have been nearly exclusively tested outside of the anti-doping system in question.
The IAAF on Monday issued a short statement accepting the ruling.
“The IAAF decision of 9 July now remains in effect which found that I was eligible because I was available to reliable drug testing around the world nearly 90 per cent of the time”.
A July 24 report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revealed widespread and state-sponsored doping in Russian Federation.
But the CAS tribunal ruled that the IAAF’s initial decision to clear Klishina should stand.
“Relevantly, the athlete established that she was subject to fully compliant drug-testing in – and out-of-competition outside of Russian Federation for the “relevant period”.
In a Saturday statement, Klishina said “I am a clean athlete and have proved that already many times and beyond any doubt”. The sanction was upheld for the Olympics by CAS last month.
And all this was carried out under the direction of the country’s sport authorities to cover up doping across a “vast majority” of winter and summer sports, it claimed.
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Russia’s inclusion at the Rio Games have been tepid to downright hostile.
