RIO DE JANEIRO (Sputnik) – Russian athletes are denied their legal right to compete in the Olympic Games without evidence or justification, Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) President Alexander Zhukov said Tuesday.
“We believe that, in relation to Russian athletes, the injustice has already taken place. Due to IAAF’s decision, more than 60 clean Russian athletes had not been admitted to international competitions, including the Olympic Games… Similarly, in some other sports, clean Russian athletes are suspended from the competition without any justification or evidence just because they are mentioned in the McLaren report’s unpublished list,” Zhukov said
Speaking at the 129th IOC session, Zhukov said Russian athletes have been tested over six months by the UK’s anti-doping agency, “but in the end despite all of this Yelena Isinbayeva, Sergei Shubenkov and dozens of other clean athletes were denied the legal right to participate in the Olympic Games.”
“Are some clean athletes cleaner than other clean athletes? Is this not discrimination?” Zhukov stressed.
