IOC panel to decide which Russians can compete in Rio
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RIO DE JANEIRO, July 31, (AFP): The International Olympic Committee has said a three-member panel will make the “fi nal decision” on which Russian athletes can compete in the Rio Olympics, set to begin in less than a week. The panel will examine each case individually and make the “fi nal decision” before Friday, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said late on Saturday.
A ban on individual Russian athletes followed a report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) stating 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. Rejecting calls for a blanket ban on Russia, the IOC decided on July 24 that individual sports federations should investigate athletes implicated in the report and decide who should be excluded.
So far, at least 117 individuals from the 387 that the Russian Olympic Committee wanted to enter have been excluded. Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said Saturday he expected 266 athletes to compete. Boxing, golf, gymnastics and taekwondo federations have yet to report their decisions The three-member panel is made up of Ugur Erdener, president of World Archery and head of the IOC medical and scientific commission, Claudia Bockel of the IOC athletes commission, and Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch.
Two Russian swimmers, Vladimir Morozov and Nikita Lobintsev, on Saturday launched the fi rst challenge against the IOC sanctions excluding them from the games. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will hold an emergency session in Rio on Sunday to hear their appeal, according to sources close to the case. Morozov, 24, and Lobintsev, 27, have called on CAS to declare “invalid and unenforceable” an IOC order for federations to exclude athletes implicated in the investigation into Russia’s state-run doping system.
They were among seven Russians banned by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) last week after the order was published. Morozov, a member of the 4x100m freestyle relay team that took bronze at the 2012 London Games, and Lobintsev, who took silver in the 4x200m freestyle team in Beijing in 2008 and bronze in the 4x100m freestyle in London, have taken their ac tion against the IOC and FINA. Yulia Efi mova on Sunday became the third Russian swimmer to challenge her Rio Olympics ban as the International Olympic Committee rejected blame for the Russia doping crisis. Efi mova, who won a 200m breaststroke bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, follows Vladimir Morozov and Nikita Lobintsev in taking her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. International swimming federation(FINA) general secretary Cornel Marcelescu confi rmed Efi mova’s appeal to AFP. Meanwhile, International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach on Sunday rejected criticism of his handling of the Russia drugs scandal, taking a thinly veiled jab at the World Anti-Doping Agency’s reaction.
The bombshell publication of a WADA-commissioned report this month which detailed a vast state-backed Russian scheme to evade drug-testers, left the IOC scrambling to formulate a policy for Russian athletes aiming to complete in Rio de Janeiro. In reaction to the report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, the IOC did not order a blanket ban on Russian participation in Rio, instead leaving individual sports federations to determine which Russian athletes could take part. The composition of the Russian team in Brazil is still unconfi rmed just fi ve days from the opening ceremony, with three swimmers making emergency appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. IOC president Bach rejected suggestions at a press conference that the IOC was to blame for the legal imbroglio. In related story, Russian businessman Oleg Tinkov, the boss of cycling team Tinkoff, lashed out at the UCI on Sunday for what he felt was discrimination against Russian riders
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