“They didn’t let us into the main competition, the Olympics, so we came here to show what we can do”, said the shot put victor, Konstantin Lyadusov. “They (competitors in Rio) would probably have been afraid of us”.
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Seven more Russian competitors were ruled out of the Olympics on Thursday even as 27 were cleared to take the nation’s team beyond 200.
On Wednesday, the IAAF upheld its decision to extend its ban on almost all Russian track and field athletes from participating in global competitions.
Sabotage by unhappy workers may have caused water and gas leaks, blocked toilets and electrical faults that slowed teams from moving into the athletes’ village, Rio Olympic organizers said Thursday (Friday in Manila). Nevertheless, the court dismissed her appeal along with that of 66 other athletes on July 21, as they did not meet the stringent eligibility criteria, with one of them involving being regularly checked by doping officers outside Russian Federation.
“This is a form of material compensation for the things that we couldn’t do”, the president of Russia’s athletics federation, Dmitry Shlyakhtin, told reporters, referring to the 100,000-ruble (RM6,055) prize for first place and other cash bonuses of up to 500,000 rubles.
“Unfortunately, I was not granted an exemption”.
The federation made a decision to organise the three-hour competition after the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week rejected athletes’ appeals against the IAAF ban.
“This is a blow to the entire sporting world and to the Olympic Games”, he said.
Most Russian track and field stars, including world champion hurdler Sergey Shubenkov and high jumper Maria Kuchina, competed in yesterday’s meet, which was topped off by a surprise appearance by sports minister Vitaly Mutko.
Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller announced on Wednesday that the balance had been tipped by the eight female rowers who were invited to compete after Russian athletes in the same event were banned.
After Putin’s speech, the two-time Olympic gold medallist pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva hugged him, thanked him for his support and then paused on the verge of tears, drawing applause from the hall.
To date, responses from other sports’ individual federations to the International Olympic Committee ruling has been mixed, with several Russian swimmers, canoeists and rowers subject to bans.
The 31st Summer Olympic Games will be held from August 5 to 21.
An investigation launched by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in May resulted in the publication of a report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren on July 18. The first Russian Olympians – the gymnastics team – arrived in Rio de Janeiro earlier.
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No track and field athletes were among the contingent heading for Rio, since the entire track team is banned from competing, except for a single US -based long jumper, following revelations of widespread doping.
