The IOC is also looking into disciplinary actions against the Russian sports ministry officials, including Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko. “How can you deprive clean sportsmen of their dream, and what’s more WADA didn’t present either facts or evidence”.
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In comments to Russian state news agency Tass, Isinbayeva says ironically: “Thank you everyone for the funeral of athletics”.
That followed the publication of an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report that showed a culture of widespread, state-sponsored doping, with even the Russian secret service involved.
The sport governing body said they were pleased CAS was in support of their position saying that with the ban, a level playing ground have been created for athletes.
The appeal was brought by the Russian Olympic committee, but it fell on deaf ears as Cas voted unanimously to keep the IAAF ban.
“The Olympic Committee and the worldwide federations of different sports includes not only those countries which initiated it, but other countries as well”.
Regardless of their views on Russia’s doping scandal, nearly all of its athletes must now rebuild their careers and hope to return to worldwide competition next season.
The IOC last month accepted the IAAF decision to extend a November ban on the Russian track team. A spokesperson for the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov said: “I certainly regret such a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport which refers to absolutely all of our athletes [who filed the claims]”.
“We believe that the principle of collective responsibility is hardly acceptable”, Peskov has told journalists, according to TASS.
Meanwhile the International Olympic Committee said it plans to re-test all Russians who competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi.
The IAAF in November 2015 suspended from worldwide track and field events Russian Federation. “We look forward to the Olympic Games and trust that the IAAF will continue to make change for the betterment of athletics internationally”.
“While it’s true that athletes from many nations have been caught doping, the nature and scope of Russia’s alleged offenses are unusually egregious”, the report said.
The IOC’s executive board met earlier this week but delayed making a decision until the CAS ruling was announced. This is a purely political order. “All the arguments are directed against ARAF and nothing concrete against athletes”, she stressed.
High jumper Maria Kuchina – a medal hopeful for the Games – was competing at an event near Moscow that she hoped would be a warm-up for Brazil when the news she had been dreading came through. Let all those pseudo-clean foreign athletes breathe a sigh of relief and win their pseudo gold medals in our absence. “There are people who decided for themselves that they can dope and maybe somehow they’d get away with it”.
China is sending 416 athletes in total to the Rio de Janeiro Games, including 35 former Olympic champions.
The ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport gives weight to the idea the International Olympic Committee could ban all Russian athletes from the 2016 Games following a widespread doping scandal.
The CAS ruling has been the focus of Olympic attention, however, since an independent WADA report this week said Russian Federation ran a “state-dictated failsafe system” of drug cheating in 30 sports at the 2014 Sochi Games and other major events.
Vera Rebrik won gold in the javelin at the European Championships for Ukraine before switching allegiance to Russian Federation following the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“Regarding the participation of athletes from Russian Federation, we are glad to report that no positive sample was recorded for handball players from Russian Federation”.
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“iNADO is calling on the IOC and the IPC to respond in an unequivocal manner by banning the Russian delegations from the Olympic and Paralympic Games”.
