The IWF also referenced the 100-page report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which found state complicity in a scheme to cover up Russian athletes who used performance-enhancing drugs.
Advertisement
“They are doing their job and it’s important I stick to mine, focus on getting ready and winning those gold medals”.
Paris: Russia’s eight-strong Olympic Games weightlifting team has been banned from the Rio Games in the latest doping-related blow to the sporting powerhouse.
A ban on individual Russian athletes followed a report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), stated that Russian doping of athletes had been organized by the sports ministry and aided by the Russian secret service at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Stepanova has rejected an invitation to attend the Olympics as a guest, with the International Olympic Committee arguing her drugs-tainted past made her ineligible to compete in Rio.
Two Russian swimmers filed an appeal Saturday against their exclusion from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, claiming the ban is “invalid” and “unenforceable”.
The IWF said a reanalyses of the urine samples of eight Russian weightlifters showed seven used performance-enhancing drugs.
“CAS works 24/7”, he said. Other sports – including rowing, wrestling, modern pentathlon and sailing – have banned one or more Russians from competing in Rio de Janeiro, but not all of the country’s eligible athletes. Further, any athlete who had been sanctioned in the past would be barred (including track’s former whistleblower Yulia Stepanova, who was previously cleared to compete under a neutral flag).
As a result of her revelations, Russian track and field athletes have been banned from the Games with many Russians from other sports also excluded over past doping offences. I feel sorry for those people that haven’t had that chance to hear their national anthem and be on that podium where they belong, deserve to be.
Russian Federation will argue in the civil courts the suspension of its athletes from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko said on Saturday.
The panel will receive independent advice from the Court of Arbitration for Sport before making its decisions. Freestyle wrestler Viktor Lebedev, a former two-time world champion in the 55kg class, was the only athlete excluded following a positive doping test a decade ago.
“If any Member Federation or members or officials thereof, by reason of conduct connected with or associated with doping or anti-doping rule violations, brings the sport of weightlifting into disrepute, the IWF Executive Board may, in its discretion, take such action as it deems fit to protect the reputation and integrity of the sport”.
Advertisement
The federations of boxing, golf, gymnastics, handball and taekwondo still have to confirm their decisions.
