MOSCOW (Sputnik) – In late June, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said that those athletes cleared by the IAAF would be able to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games under the Russian flag.
"More than 200 athletes were included in the pool. The team includes 100 people on average, but everyone who could potentially compete in the [2016 Summer Olympics in Rio] was included so that there are no dark horses. The Sports Ministry is paying for UKAD [UK Anti-Doping] to take the samples. Therefore, when they say there is no trust… I think that we now have the cleanest team in athletics," Lebedeva, member of the upper house committee on social policy, told reporters.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) upheld the suspension of the All-Russia Athletics Federation’s (ARAF’s) membership, virtually banning Russian athletes from the 2016 Rio Olympics, over failed doping tests.
