Russian Federation says taekwondo team approved for Rio Olympics

Russian Federation will immediately appeal the decision to ban all eight of its weightlifters from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics for doping.

Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller announced on Wednesday that the balance had been tipped by the eight female rowers who were invited to compete after Russian athletes in the same event were banned.

“We’re after medals, that’s it”, handball player Anna Sen said as she prepared to board the flight.

“We needed to make a statement”, discus thrower Yekaterina Strokova told reporters of the consolation meet, which garnered an audience of some 150 people, mostly athletes’ friends and relatives.

Protests have continued to roil the lead-up to the 2016 Summer Olympics, with the opening ceremony just over a week away.

“Many details have not been taken into consideration regarding the banning of Russian athletes from the Olympics based on McLaren’s list”.

He said the most likely cause was what he called “organisational problems”.

This follows a previous report by the same agency documenting rampant doping among Russia’s track and field athletes.

To be sure, officials have barred the vast majority of applicants from Russia’s tainted track and field team.

The governing body for each sport is to check athletes, who can also appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS).

“Imagine, this was on a weekend in Rio”, he said. “We haven’t seen our competitors yet, the Chinese competitors”.

“Why is Elena Isinbayeva is deprived of her right to compete”, Vladimir Vasin, vice president of the Russian Olympic Committee, said. This is the case in rowing and some other sports. These rulings must still be ratified by CAS.

There was good news for Russia on Friday when the Russian Taekwondo Union said it had received notification from the World Taekwondo Federation that all three of its entries could compete in Rio.

The International Olympic Committee’s new television channel will launch officially August 21, the last day of this year’s Rio de Janeiro Games, as the organization looks to attract a new generation of fans.

Putin last week called for the creation of a new state-backed anti-doping commission to draw up future strategy.

Smirnov told local media Thursday that the new commission would be independent of the government, despite containing several senior figures with links to the Kremlin.

Four additional weightlifters were mentioned in World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren’s report – which alleged a massive cover-up of failed drug tests – as having benefited from the “disappearing positive methodology system” used by Russian Federation to mask doping results.

“We will welcome the arrival of WADA, and we rule out any attempts at interference by the state or other structures”, he said.