IOC to announce final ruling on eligibility of Russian athletes
RIO De Janeiro, Aug 5 (IANS) The International Olympic Committee’s three-man panel will announce the final ruling on the eligibility of Russian athletes, IOC President Thomas Bach said.
A number of international federations have reported in the day that the IOC’s independent panel notified them of Russian athletes – from sailing, canoeing, shooting, judo, volleyball, golf, etc. – have been allowed to compete at the Rio Games which open on August 5.
“We expect the final results of the panel to be ready for publication later today,” Bach told a press conference at the Main Press Center, Xinhua reported.
“With this respect to individual justice we can also send a very clear message to the clean athletes and in particular to the clean athletes in Russia. And this messge is: you can be successful outside such a system. If you are clean, you are respected and rewarded, and you can follow and must follow your Olympic dream as a clean athlete,” added the IOC.
The Russian Olympic Committee submitted 387 entries and more than 110 had been rejected by relevant international federations before the final list was submitted to the IOC panel, which is made up of IOC Athletes’ Commission chairwoman Claudia Bokel of Germany, IOC Medical Commission chairman Ugur Erdener of Turkey and Spain’s Juan Antonio Samaranch.