Rio de Janeiro: The International Olympic Committee eased a ban on Russian athletes competing in the Rio Games as the Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Wednesday it was wrestling with a record number of appeals. The IOC sent out “new guidance” on how to implement sanctions ordered after an investigation found widespread state-backed Russian doping, according to the World Sailing federation.
Sailing’s world body said it had cancelled a ban against Russian 470 class contender Pavel Sozykin because of the new instructions. The IOC had initially said any athlete “implicated” in the state-run doping revealed by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren should be excluded from the Games. But a new statement sent to the 28 summer Olympics federations on Monday “indicated that an athlete should not be considered as ‘implicated’ if the McLaren list does not refer to a prohibited substance which would have given rise to an anti-doping rules violation,” the sailing federation said.
Sozykin, like many Russian athletes facing bans, was named in connection with the manipulation of samples so positive results could be covered up. World Sailing said it had reinstated Sozykin because the substance he was accused of taking would not have resulted in a ban. But dozens of would-be Olympians from Russia remained in limbo as CAS sorted through their appeals.
CAS said at least 11 of the 18 appeals launched at a special tribunal in Rio since July 26 involved Russian athletes banned after they were implicated in the McLaren probe. CAS said in a statement that the tribunal in Rio had set “a new record of cases for one edition of the Olympic Games” before the Rio Olympic Games kickstart here on Friday.
Every Russian boxer cleared:
All 11 Russian boxers who qualified for the Rio Olympics have been given the all clear to compete at the Games, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said on Thursday.
“AIBA has carried out an individual analysis of the anti-doping record of each of the 11 Russian boxers qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games...” AIBA said in a statement.
“That process is now complete and confirmation has been received from the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Review Panel that the following 11 Russian boxers are eligible to compete at Rio 2016.”
The IOC opted not to ban all Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics after revelations of a wide state-backed doping programme across many sports.
Instead the Games’ ruling body directed sports federations to allow Russian athletes to compete if they met a set of criteria, including a clean doping past and sufficient testing at international events.
In the men’s boxing competition, Vasilii Egorov (49kg), Misha Aloian (52kg), Vladimir Nikitin (56kg), Adlan Abdurashidov (60kg), Vitaly Dunaytsev (64kg), Andrey Zamkovoy (69kg), Artem Chebotarev (75kg), Petr Khamukov (81kg) and Evgeny Tishchenko (91kg) were cleared to compete. The two women boxers who will compete at Rio are Anastassiia Beliakova (60kg) and Iaroslava Iakushina (75kg).
