Russian Federation still pushing to get athletes in Rio

We continue to bring you the latest developments after the International Olympic Committee chose not to ban Russia’s entire team from the Rio Olympics over doping allegations.

After a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) backed investigation said there had been Russian state-organised doping, the International Olympic Committee on July 24 ordered individual federations to rule which Russian athletes could compete in Rio.

Russia’s sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, has promised there will be an appeal to CAS against the blanket ban of the country’s weightlifting team.

But McLaren’s report said there was state-organised doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and other major global events in Russian Federation.

“The integrity of the weightlifting sport has been seriously damaged on multiple times and levels by the Russians, therefore an appropriate sanction was applied in order to preserve the status of the sport”.

The Korean Olympic Committee said the 15-year-old will return to South Korea for surgery, and that Lee Eun-ju, who finished second in last month’s national trials, will take her spot in the Olympic artistic gymnastics competition.

In justifying its actions against Russia, the IWF said retests of samples from seven Russian weightlifters who took part in the 2008 Beijing Olympics or 2012 London Olympics resulted in positive tests, and more were expected.

Bulgaria’s weightlifters had already been excluded from the Olympics previous year, after 11 lifters at a training camp tested positive. Instead, the International Olympic Committee asked individual sports federations to determine which Russian athletes would be cleared to compete. But the nation’s weightlifters were banned for doping.

Vitaly Mutko tells Russian media that “as of today, 272 athletes have definitely been admitted to the Olympics”, adding that a final figure would be available Saturday.

The IOC has said any Russian athlete with a doping past, including Stepanova, would not be allowed to compete in Rio as it tightened controls following the fallout from the doping scandal involving their country.

According to a team spokesman, between 50-60 athletes and staff had to leave the building for about 20 minutes.

– Two Russian swimmers filed an appeal Saturday against their exclusion from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, claiming the ban is “invalid” and “unenforceable”.

More than 100 Russian athletes have been barred from the games so far – including the track and field team banned by the IAAF and more than 30 athletes excluded by other federations since the release of McLaren’s report.