However, World Sailing Board members were unanimous in their decision to declare Sozykin eligible to compete in Rio de Janeiro following a conference call held today.
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Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov lashed out at what he called a political campaign against Russia and “discrimination” against clean athletes not connected to doping.
Earlier, Russia launched an appeal, through the Court of Arbitration for Sport, of the ban on all eight of its weightlifters for doping.
Asked whether the ruling represented a failure by the IOC, Bach said: “No”. “There’s now potentially a way to get through”.
Rio de Janeiro: The World Anti-Doping Agency is under siege on the eve of the Rio Games following stinging attacks from sport chiefs, including International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach who is calling for restructure and a “full review of its deficiencies”.
McLaren said in a statement that “my office has been inundated with requests for information on individual athletes”.
They were asking for immediate approval to compete, which they have not been granted, but sport’s highest court has ruled against the IOC’s attempt to bar Russian Federation from entering any athlete who has been sanctioned before. “I think this is absolutely unfair”.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said they took timely investigation into Russian Federation doping once they had concrete evidence, pushing aside criticism from International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach.
McLaren is to finalize his report after the Rio Games, after which the International Olympic Committee will decide on Russian Federation. “We had to respect basic principles of natural law”.
“We have good news for the fans of the Russian Olympic team”, he said.
“We’re after medals, that’s it”, handball player Anna Sen said as she prepared to board the flight.
Bach defended the IOC’s decision, describing the blanket ban as a “nuclear option”.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decision not to impose a blanket ban on Russian Federation has divided world sport’s leadership.
Three senior IOC members – Germany’s Claudia Bokel, Ugur Erdener of Turkey and Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr – have spent the last 24 hours vetting the more than 250 Russian athletes declared eligible by the global federations and a Court of Arbitration for Sport expert.
Bach and many members pointed fingers at WADA for failing to act sooner on evidence of state-run doping in Russian Federation and for releasing its findings so close to the start of the games.
“It would be like the East Germans back in 1985 trying to deny it, while we all knew they were doping”, said Mallon, an American. “You can not answer to a violation of a law by another violation of a law”. A system as centralized and dirty as Russia’s leaves no one untainted, and every athlete who parades under the Russian flag at Rio has already been compromised.
An IOC session meanwhile stepped up its trend of attracting the next generation of Olympic fans by announcing five new sports for the 2020 Games in Tokyo – surfing, skateboarding, climbing, karate and baseball.
“I trust the people realize the difficulties we are in, that they realize that it was not an easy decision to take, and that they realize we did our best to address this situation in a way which allows to protect all clean athletes all over the world”, he added.
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WADA president Craig Reedie largely took the comments in his stride but he insisted the anti-doping body wasn’t in as bad a shape as some delegates had suggested.
