“I will be personally meeting with WADA representatives in Rio in my capacity as Sports Minister, as well as other global counterparts, to discuss both this case and the need for a genuine commitment from all countries and sports to tough, internationally-consistent anti-doping standards”, she told reporters in Sydney on Monday.
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– The IOC’s decision to let the 28 summer sports determine the eligibility of their athletes puts the federations in a almost impossible situation. Zhukov said he didn’t agree with the latest International Olympic Committee ruling but that Russian Federation would not appeal it. That doesn’t mean individual athletes can not. The IAAF had approved a request for Stepanova to compete in Rio as a “neutral athlete”.
Nikita Lobintsev, Vladimir Morozov and Daria Ustinova have been rejected because their names appeared in Richard McLaren’s damning report into state-directed doping in Russian Federation.
The controversy began after the World Anti-Doping Agency called for a blanket ban on all Russian athletes after Moscow was accused of state-sponsored doping during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
“The exact implication for the Russian Swimming Federation is still to be clarified”, the statement continued.
The International Tennis Federation has already said Russia’s eight-member team meets the IOC requirements as the players have been through regular international testing.
The absence of Efimova, a four-time world breaststroke champion, will be a blow to Russia’s hopes of picking up medals in the pool in Rio, but that news will not be as devastating as the confirmation of the three names McLaren uncovered in his recent investigation.
Radcliffe said: “While I applaud no athlete going to the Games who has previously served a doping suspension – this can not fairly be only Russian athletes”.
The 34-year-old two-time Olympic gold medallist is set to miss out because of the wholesale ban on the Russian track and field team.
The Russian authorities have withdrawn Mikhail Dovgalyuk, Yulia Efimova, Natalia Lovtcova and open-water swimmer Anastasia Krapivina from consideration as all have served doping bans before. “Does not send out a strong message that doping will not be tolerated”. “That does not seem like a victory to me”.
– said the federations would have to apply their own rules if they want to ban an entire Russian team from their events in Rio, as the IAAF has already done.
Giving her reaction to the IOC’s decision, marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe, wrote: “A sad day for Clean Sport”.
Additional sanctions and measures may be imposed by the IOC following the final report of the IP and due legal procedure by the IOC Disciplinary Commission established on 19 July 2016 under the chairmanship of Mr Guy Canivet (Vice-Chair of the IOC Ethics Commission, former member of the French Constitutional Court and President of the French Cour de Cassation) and the IOC EB.
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The IOC also reiterated its “serious concerns” about the weaknesses in the fight against doping, and called on WADA to “fully review their anti-doping systems”.
