RIO DE JANEIRO : The International Olympic Committee on Friday approved 271 Russian athletes to take part in the Rio Games after a major doping review eliminated 118 competitors.
\nRussia, accused of operating a huge state-orchestrated doping system, will now have its smallest Olympic team for more than a century for the Games which start on Friday.
\nRussian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov said the team was “probably the cleanest in Rio” because of all the tests and checks they have undergone.
\nThe Court of Arbitration for Sport is still hearing some Russian cases so the number could rise.
\nBut the IOC said “rigorous” extra testing would be imposed on Russians allowed into the Games.
\n“Any non-availability for this programme will lead to the immediate withdrawal of the accreditation by the IOC.”
\nRussia entered 389 athletes for the Games. But a report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) blamed the Russian sports ministry and secret service of running the doping programme and set off the biggest doping scandal in Olympic history.
\nThe IOC ordered individual federations to decide which athletes are clean enough to compete and their final lists were vetted by a three-member IOC panel.
\nTwo Russian swimmers named in WADA s bombshell McLaren report were included among a 31-strong squad for the Olympics, world swimming body FINA said.
\nCanoeist Andre Kraitor was also put back in the team after winning an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday.
\nThe Russian team will be the smallest since the Russian Empire sent 159 athletes to the 1912 Games in Stockholm.
\nThe doping storm has overshadowed the buildup to Friday s opening ceremony in Rio s 60,000 capacity Maracana stadium.
\nThe mood in the football-crazy nation suffered another dampener as the country s Olympic team were held to a disappointing 0-0 draw by South Africa in their opening game.
\nNot even the presence of Barcelona superstar Neymar could inspire Brazil to victory over the African underdogs. Germany and Mexico drew 2-2 in their game.
\nFive-time World Cup-winners Brazil are desperate to win the Olympic gold medal — the only international football title they have never won.
\nRussia meanwhile became a part of the political and social tensions ahead of Friday s opening ceremony. A Russian vice-consul in Rio killed a mugger who attacked him during a struggle, police said.
\nSecurity forces are on alert for protests are expected around the Maracana where the ceremony, starting at 2300 GMT, is to feature the likes of supermodel Gisele Bundchen and transgender beauty Lea T.
\n“It s going to be a beautiful ceremony, very Brazilian, very Olympics, and very sportsmanlike,” Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada told a press conference.
\nBut the ceremony could be targeted by protests directed against Brazil s interim president Michel Temer, who took over from Dilma Rousseff while she battles impeachment proceedings.
\nTemer has said he expects to heckled when he declares the Games open. Brazilian media reports say that music will be turned up as soon as he finishes speaking to mask any booing.
\nIll-health may prevent Brazilian football legend Pele from taking part in the ceremony. Pele said he had been invited to light the Olympic flame at the ceremony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RIO DE JANEIRO : The International Olympic Committee on Friday approved 271 Russian athletes to take part in the Rio Games after a major doping review eliminated 118 competitors. Russia, accused of operating a huge state-orchestrated doping system, will now have its smallest Olympic team for more than a century for the Games which start […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n