“No, the president is not planning this trip”, Pekov said.
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Rutherford, who will defend his Olympic title at the Games, which begin on August 5, believes the IOC has tried to satisfy everyone but ended up creating a “messy” situation. It insisted that “the “presumption of innocence” can not be applied to them”.
The European Olympic Committees (EOC) said on Sunday it supports today’s decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Russia’s participation in the Rio 2016 Olympics. Final entry is contingent on approval from an independent sports arbitrator. “The losses might be quite visible, not just one or two athletes”, Russia’s Sport Express commented. Individual decisions on Russian athletes will be taken by relevant global federations, reports TASS.
Marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe described the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) refusal to ban Russian Federation from the Olympics as a “sad day for clean sport” while cycling gold medalist Chris Hoy said officials had “passed the buck”.
“We were mindful of the need for justice for clean athletes”, said Coates, who is president of the Australian committee.
“This is not about expectations”, he said. “Pole vaulting became sports number one in world athletics, and my victory in Cheboksary still remains the best result in the world”, the 34-year-old added.
The IOC was also accused of prioritising politics over sport. “This is not the end of the story but a preliminary decision that concerns Rio 2016”. Olympic leaders stopped short of imposing a blanket ban on Russia, allowing individual sports federations to decide who could compete. Stepanova, now living in the United States, competed as an individual athlete at last month’s European Championships in Amsterdam.
“I maintain the view that any actions less than what WADA has recommended at this critical point in time risks Rio being overshadowed by a contagious suspicion of compromised integrity and damaging the reputation of the Olympic movement”, she said, reading from a prepared statement.
Usada chief Travis Tygart called the decision “incomprehensible”, adding it will “undoubtedly deter whistleblowers in the future from coming forward”.
The IOC decision was endorsed by the national Olympic committee of neighbouring New Zealand, which said the global body had taken the “strongest possible measures”.
Worldwide federations will have only days to process the Russian cases. Many are still waiting for information from McLaren’s report.
“The seven Russian tennis players who have been nominated to compete in Rio have been subject to rigorous anti-doping testing programme outside Russia, which included a total of 205 samples collected since 2014”.
Sunday’s measures are still a blow to Russian Federation, which finished third in total medals at the 2012 Olympics. The IOC also confirmed it will not allow whistle-blower Yulia Stepanova to compete as a neutral athlete in Rio.
With many wondering how that can be done for the almost 400 athletes Russia hopes to bring to Rio, IAAF president Sebastien Coe has offered his federation’s help. All three have previously served doping bans. Many of these committees lack the resources to conduct a serious anti-doping investigations.
IPC president Sir Philip Craven said there was an “unimaginable scale” of institutionalised doping in Russian sport that was orchestrated at the highest level. On Thursday 21 July, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld that ban.
“The entry of any Russian athlete ultimately accepted by the International Olympic Committee will be subject to a rigorous additional out-of-competition testing programme in coordination with the relevant IF and WADA”.
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The World Anti-Doping Agency stood by its recommendation to exclude Russian Federation and expressed disappointment at the IOC’s verdict.
