More than 100 athletes from what was originally a 387-strong team have been barred from competing in Rio by worldwide sports federations under sanctions which most Russian athletes consider unfair. More than 100 Russians from the 387-strong Olympic team have been banned so far from going to Rio de Janeiro over the country’s doping scandal.
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“The Olympic Channel will inspire us all and reach out to new generations of athletes and fans”, he said.
One of the banned athletes, two-time Olympic champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, who spoke after Putin, lamented that her Olympic dreams had been shattered.
“The situation went beyond the legal field as well as common sense”, Putin told the audience, which included numerous banned athletes.
“The targeted campaign our athletes became the victim of included notorious double standards, a principle of collective responsibility and a cancellation of the presumption of innocence, which are incompatible with sport, or with justice – elementary legal norms”, he said. “…the absence of Russian sportspeople – leaders in many sporting disciplines – will significantly affect the intensity of the competition and diminish the spectator value of the forthcoming events”.
“This is a blow to the entire sporting world and to the Olympic Games”, he said.
Maintaining its ban, the IAAF said the applications by 68 Russian athletes for eligibility to compete in Rio were assessed carefully and individually by its Doping Review Board. Worldwide sports federations must now remove any athlete previously banned for doping or who was implicated in last week’s McLaren report alleging a mass cover up of failed drug tests.
Four positive results in Russian triathlon were also covered up, according to McLaren.
“Three other riders who have previously been sanctioned for Anti-Doping Rule Violations have been withdrawn by the ROC”. “CAS considered the appeals of the (other) 67 athletes fully and rejected them”, it said in a statement.
So while these eleven appear to have been granted an opportunity to compete, and three athletes have already been blocked, the fate of the three outstanding riders potentially implicated in the McLaren report now lays in the hands of the the IOC, WADA the UCI and CADF. These rulings must still be ratified by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The International Gymnastics Federation said it has established a “pool of eligible Russian athletes” and is awaiting IOC approval.
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More than 100 athletes from what was originally a 387-strong team have been barred from competing in Rio by global sports federations under sanctions which most Russian athletes consider unfair. In his native Germany, IOC President Thomas Bach is facing increasing criticism for failing to impose a complete ban on Russia’s team.
