Russia’s track and field team including Isinbayeva and Co was already banned from Rio over statesponsored doping, but its Olympic Committee last week optimistically named a 387strong squad for the Games.
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The IOC passed the baton to each sport’s world governing federation to clear individual Russian competitors for next month’s Games, adding that the athletes must have a clean global record on drug testing to be eligible to compete.
While admitting there is still sometimes gunfire in Vidigal and neighbouring Rocinha, Sandra Magalheas and Bruna Concercao said these favelas and others relatively close to the main Olympic sites have been somewhat pacified by a massive police crackdown that largely won them back from the street gangs four years ago.
IOC President Thomas Bach acclaimed his colleagues’ decision at the time as “a great, great step forward”.
There have been 108 Russians banned from the upcoming Olympics, including 67 of 68 members of the track-and-field team. Four of the 11 are Russians, who all tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, an anabolic steroid.
The majority of Rio’s Olympic budget has been allocated to infrastructure, according to Paes.
Mayor Eduardo Paes kissed Australia delegation chief Kitty Chiller on the cheek, handed her a symbolic key to the city and apologized for the construction hiccups at the Village, which included blocked toilets, risky wiring and leaks.
“My Olympics will be spent working here”, the 40-year-old single mother said as she paused to take orders at a restaurant and bar atop the sprawling Vidigal favela, which is blessed with a panorama of Rio and its many beaches every bit as breathtaking as those from tourist landmarks atop Sugarloaf Mountain and around the majestic Christ the Redeemer statue.
It brought in the workers as it races to address complaints over filth, poor plumbing and wiring at the Olympic Village ahead of the start of the Games on August 5. Attention now shifts to dozens of venues, which will be filling up in the next few days with thousands of athletes hoping to practice.
Paes reacted to the Australian complaints on Sunday by quipping that he should perhaps put “a kangaroo in front of their building to make them feel at home”.
“Australia was right”, he said. That was a mistake of the organization.
“We are considering isolated cases, but we haven’t seen enough to say it was an organized sabotage thing”, Rio spokesman Mario Andrada said Thursday.
In another worry for organisers, Rio metro employees threatened yesterday to go on strike on the eve of the Games if they do not get a 9.83 per cent salary raise, raising the possibility of transport chaos for some 500,000 tourists expected to attend.
OAKLAND, Calif. – Center Anderson Varejao will miss the Olympics for host Brazil because of a herniated disc in his lower back. The Warriors announced the injury and said that Varejao should be ready for the start of training camp.
Varejao averaged 2.6 points and 2.3 rebounds in 22 games after signing with the Warriors on February 22.
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Earlier this month, he responded to one voter critical of Rio’s transformation by telling him to “move”.
