Russia’s prospects of "being welcomed back into world athletics in time for the Rio Olympics appear increasingly doomed, with nearly half of a slew of new positive tests from the Beijing Games eight years ago reportedly belonging to competitors from the former Soviet republic," according to Chip Le Grand of THE AUSTRALIAN. Tass reported that Anna Chicherova, the high jump Gold Medalist from the 2012 London Games, was "among 14 Russian athletes whose retested samples from the Beijing Olympics four years earlier had shown traces of performance-enhancing drugs." Tass further reported that the Russian Olympic Committee had been told by the IOC that "14 Russians had doping cases to answer following the retesting from Beijing." Most of the athletes are reportedly "from the Russian track and field team." The IAAF is "due to decide on June 17 whether to lift the competition ban imposed on the All-Russian Athletic Federation" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 5/25). In London, James Riach reported those who failed the retrospective tests "are not expected to be named until they have had the opportunity to request their 'B' sample be examined," although the IOC disclosed that Olympians from 12 countries were implicated, spanning six sports. The British Olympic Association said last Tuesday that "it had not been contacted by the IOC and was not aware of any British athletes involved" (GUARDIAN, 5/24).
'BETTER THAN EVEN CHANCE': REUTERS' Dmitriy Rogovitskiy reported ARAF Head Dmitry Shlyakhtin said that Russia's track and field team has a "slightly better than even chance of overturning a doping ban and being allowed to compete at the Rio Olympics." Shlyakhtin said, "Today our conscience is clear. We have done everything that we needed to do. We have started afresh, we have looked through our documents and made them legally sound. A mouse would not be able to slip past us now!" He added, "I think our chances of competing in Rio de Janeiro are between 50 and 60 percent" (REUTERS, 5/23). REUTERS' Alexander Winning reported Russia "could lose medals from the 2008 Beijing Olympics after 14 of its athletes tested positive for banned substances during re-tests." The Russian Sports Ministry said, "Any athletes found cheating should face corresponding sanctions. We have taken numerous steps to eradicate the issue of doping, and understand that the roots of the problem, particularly in athletics, go back to the past" (REUTERS, 5/24).