"The integrity of the weightlifting sport has been seriously damaged." Russia's weightlifting team has been banned from competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics after failing the doping test. Individual sport federations must rule on whether Russians can compete in Rio following the country's doping scandal.
Two among the eight-strong weightlifting teams had already been banned for prior violations, followed by another four.
According to the Russia's Sport Minister, 272 of the original 387 selected athletes had been cleared to compete in Rio. A final figure is expected on Saturday, with the federations of boxing, golf, gymnastics and taekwondo still to confirm their decisions.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) had recommended all Russian athletes be banned from the Games, but weightlifting and athletics are the only sports to have imposed a blanket ban on Russian competitors.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) took the step after a series of suspicious test results at the Beijing and London Games. "We would like to highlight the extremely shocking and disappointing statistics regarding the Russian weightlifters," said IWF.
Source: BBC
Share It To Your Friends!
Loading...