The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has banned Russian weightlifters from competing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro-the latest in a long line of sanctions against the nation in the wake of a doping scandal.
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The IOC ruling left the decision on whether to clear individual Russian athletes up to the worldwide federations for each sports – provided they had no previous history of doping.
“We will analyse each line and proceed legally against it”, Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said on Saturday on Russian sports television channel Match TV.
The three-member panel is made up of Ugur Erdener, president of World Archery and head of the IOC medical and scientific commission, Claudia Bockel of the IOC athletes commission, and Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch.
“It’s obvious that the absence of Russian competitors – leaders in many disciplines – markedly lowers…the intensity of the fight and that means the spectacle at the upcoming events”.
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.
“It is important the International Olympic Committee takes the final decision based on independent advice”, said Adams.
In justifying its actions against Russia, the IWF said retests of samples from seven Russian weightlifters who took part in the 2008 Beijing Olympics or 2012 London Olympics resulted in positive tests, and more were expected.
The Olympic Truce – ceasing all conflicts between countries participating in the games from 7 days before the Olympics start until 7 days after they finish – has been passed on from Ancient Greece to current times to advance worldwide understanding and promote world peace.
The IOC executive committee decided not to ban the Russian team.
Russian Olympic Committee chief Aleksandr Zhukov has said 250 athletes on the 387-member Russian team have been cleared for Olympic competition.
Stepanov, who with his 800m runner wife Yuliya Stepanova, gave details of the state-run doping program to a German documentary in 2014, said efforts to clean up sport had failed. Other sports have banned individual Russians but not all of the eligible athletes.
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“It has always been the case in the Olympics”.
