The Australian gymnastics team are awaiting a decision by the global federation (FIG) on Russian athletes to see if they will replace them, while the women’s eight rowing crew has been handed a berth in place of a banned Russian team.
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The Russian track and field athletes banned from this summer’s Olympics in Rio next month competed in a makeshift tournament of their own, titled Stars 2016, in front of a modest crowd in Moscow consisting largely of family and friends.
Russia’s weightlifting team has been dogged by doping cases and faced further embarrassment on Wednesday when retests of samples from the 2012 Olympics saw four Russians test positive.
Chiller’s warning on Sunday that housing in the Olympic Village was “not safe or ready” due to leaky plumbing, blocked toilets and exposed wires ignited concern over Rio’s readiness to host the first Olympics in South America.
Russia’s largest losses are in track and field, with 67 of 68 athletes barred, while the situation remains unclear in some sports, notably weightlifting and boxing.
London Olympic canoe slalom silver medallist Jessica Fox said she was delighted with the news.
“It is now time to put all doubts aside: the Russian team is going to the Olympics”.
“Without this testing, they might not know if they actually had Zika virus and it makes it more hard to plan their reproductive health decisions”, Byington said.
On top of all of the Olympic village housing issues, officials are telling athletes to keep their mouths closed when in Rio de Janeiro’s water to avoid getting extremely sick.
Also banned from the games are seven Russian swimmers, five canoeists, and two athletes who compete in pentathalons.
Russia’s Sports Minister said 272 of the original 387 athletes selected had been cleared to complete in Rio.
Also on Friday, Anatoly Terekhov, head of the Russian Taekwondo Union, told Russian agency R-Sport that all three Russians entered for taekwondo in Rio have been approved by the World Taekwondo Federation.
“The shock from the information received overnight on July 29 was tremendous”, the letter said.
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Three cyclists were rejected for being named in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s McLaren Report and three more were withdrawn by the Russian Olympic Committee because of previous doping sanctions, leaving a team of 11.
