IOC approves entry of 271 Russian athletes for Rio Games

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 5: A would-be mugger in Rio de Janeiro died when Russia’s vice consul fought back during the attempted robbery and the assailant was killed by his own weapon, police said.

Another five athletes – three track cyclists, a wrestler and a canoeist – will know by Friday if they can take part in the Rio Olympic Games.

“Not one team underwent such strict requirements as Russian athletes”, Zhukov told a news conference in Rio.

The two were named under the “disappearing positive test” findings in the July McLaren report that alleged a Russian state-sponsored program made positive doping tests go away.

The IOC confirmed that 271 Russian athletes have been cleared to compete at the Rio Games.

Several worldwide federations announced separately Thursday that they had received the final approval for Russian entries in their events, including boxing, judo, equestrian, volleyball and golf. “I can say no team here has been checked as closely as Russian Federation”. “No athletes from any country… had the rules changed to bar those previously guilty of doping”.

The CAS ruling came in the cases of Russian rowers Anastasia Karabelshivo and Ivan Podshivalov, who both received two-year doping bans in 2008, and swimmer Yulia Efimova, a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Games who served a two-year ban from 2013-15.

“The CAS Panel supported the approach taken by the International Olympic Committee at paragraph 2 [on IFs deciding who is eligible]. I couldn’t be more proud and relieved”.

“As paragraph 3 [on prior bans] is unenforceable, the two athletes should be considered by FISA, pursuant to paragraph 2 of the IOC Decision, to determine their eligibility or not, without delay”.

“We had to follow the rules of justice and justice has to be independent from politics”, Bach said. “We had to respect basic principles of natural law”.