Wednesday 27 July 2016

Rio Olympics 2016: 37 more Russian athletes banned from the Games

Alexander Dyachenko
Nineteen more Russian rowers have been banned from competing at next month's Olympics, taking the number of Russian athletes suspended this week to 37.
Earlier on Tuesday, eight athletes across canoeing, modern pentathlon and sailing were banned, as seven swimmers and three rowers were on Monday.
Governing bodies are making the rulings following the damning World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report into state-sponsored doping in the country.
The Rio Games begin on 5 August.
It leaves Russia with six eligible rowers from the 28 initially put forward for Rio.
The International Olympic Committee has said individual federations should decide if Russians can compete following Wada's report.
Wada president Sir Craig Reedie said he was "disappointed" with that decision, while Germany's Olympic discus champion Robert Harting said he was "ashamed" of his compatriot Thomas Bach, president of the IOC.
Some international federations have banned Russians from competing altogether, some have issued a partial ban, while others have cleared all Russian athletes to take part.
Athletics' governing body, the IAAF, had already opted to ban Russian track and field athletes unless they can satisfy strict doping criteria. So far, only one athlete has been able to do that.
  • How many Russians will compete at the Rio Olympics?http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/800/cpsprodpb/9FC6/production/_90520904_olympics_russia_bans_inf624.v2.png

    The rowers

    Governing body Fisa said the latest 17 rowers and two coxes to be banned are "not considered to have participated in doping" but do not meet the IOC's criteria of having been tested in labs outside of Russia.
    The decision means only Aleksandr Chaukin, Georgy Eremenko, Artem Kosov, Nikita Morgachev, Vladislav Ryabcev and Anton Zarutskiy are left from Russia's original squad of 28.
    On Monday, Fisa's 'first stage' of its response was to rule out one rower implicated in the McLaren report and a further two for having served doping suspensions previously.
    Fisa added the places of four Russian boats would be attributed to other nations.

    Canoeing and kayaking

    International Canoe Federation secretary general Simon Toulson said his organisation had taken "swift action and removed all offending athletes where doping evidence exists".
    Elena Aniushina, Natalia Podolskaya, Alexander Dyachenko, Andrey Kraitor and Alexey Korovashkov have been suspended pending further investigation, but there would be no federation-wide ban, a statement added.
    Korovashkov, a five-time world champion, won bronze in the doubles canoe sprint at London 2012, where Dyachenko won gold in the doubles kayak sprint.

    Modern pentathlon

    Modern pentathlon's governing body the UIPM said Maksim Kustov and Ilia Frolov had also been named in the Wada-commissioned McLaren report.
    But the three other athletes named in Russia's squad would be allowed to compete, it added.

    The sailors

    Pavel Sozykin was the competitor banned by World Sailing. The governing body said the other six Russian sailors would be allowed to compete, and a replacement for Sozykin would be allowed.
    Meanwhile, the International Judo Federation and the International Shooting Sport Federation have said they will allow Russia's squads to compete at the Olympics.

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