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IAAF Confirms Ban On Russia's Track And Field Athletes In Rio

The Int'l Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Wednesday "stood behind its ban on Russia's track and field athletes competing at the Rio Olympics, effectively leaving all avenues explored in Moscow's attempts to get the team readmitted," according to Nivedita Shankar of REUTERS. The IAAF "imposed the ban in November in response to systematic state-sponsored doping by Russia." Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko "wrote to the IAAF on Monday to get the ban overturned." But on Wednesday the organization said there were "no grounds for further review." Maintaining its ban, the IAAF said that "the applications by 68 Russian athletes for eligibility to compete in Rio were assessed carefully and individually by its Doping Review Board." The IAAF said in a statement, "Only (long jumper Darya Klishina) ... was found to meet the criteria for exceptional eligibility. CAS considered the appeals of the (other) 67 athletes fully and rejected them" (REUTERS, 7/27).

Vladimir Putin

PUTIN SPEAKS OUT: The AP's Vasilyeva & Harris wrote Russian President Vladimir Putin hit out at "discrimination" against the country's banned track and field athletes at a Kremlin send-off ceremony Wednesday for its depleted Olympic team. More than 100 Russians from the 387-strong Olympic team "have been banned so far from going to Rio de Janeiro." Putin: "We can't accept indiscriminate disqualification of our athletes with an absolutely clean doping history. We cannot and will not accept what in fact is pure discrimination." Putin said that "the athletes banned from the Olympics were victims of a campaign to present Russian sports in a bad light" (AP, 7/27). The BBC reported Putin, who said the Games would be "less of a spectacle" as a result of the bans, said the "campaign" he alleged "was characterized by so-called double standards and opted for the idea of collective responsibility, which is not compatible with sport, justice in general, or the basic norms of law" (BBC, 7/27). REUTERS' Denis Dyomkin wrote the Russian leader said that the scandal, which centers on allegations that the Russian government and the FSB security service systematically covered up doping for years, "had unfairly targeted many Russian sports people who had not even faced specific and proven accusations." Putin: "This is a blow to the entire sporting world and to the Olympic Games. It is obvious that the absence of Russian sports people -- leaders in many sporting disciplines -- will significantly affect the intensity of the competition and diminish the spectator value of the forthcoming events." Putin said that any medal won in Rio in the absence of Russian athletes "would be worth much less than otherwise and that such victories would have a completely different taste" (REUTERS, 7/27).

TAKING SHAPE: The PA's Matt Slater wrote Russia's Olympic team "continued to take shape on Wednesday as fencing became the latest sport to declare the country's athletes eligible for Rio." Fencing's world governing body the FIE said it had "re-examined the results" of the drug tests taken by the 16-strong Russian team over the last two years and all were negative. Fencing "joins archery, badminton, equestrian, judo, shooting and tennis in clearing all of Russia's proposed athletes for the Rio Olympics," which starts on Aug. 5 (PA, 7/27).

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