RUSSIA APPEAL OVER BAN FAILS

THE bid by Russia’s athletics squad to be reinstated for the Rio Games was rejected yesterday, leaving the fate of their entire Olympic team hanging in the balance. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) turned down the appeal of 68 Russian athletes seeking to overturn a ban imposed by the IAAF following allegations of state-sponsored doping and cover-ups. With all other avenues exhausted, it is the end of the road for their hopes of competing in Rio next month. ‘Today’s judgment has created a level playing field for athletes,’ the IAAF, athletics’ world governing body, said in a statement. ‘It’s sad but rules are rules,’ was the verdict of Usain Bolt, figurehead for athletics. But Yelena Isinbayeva, Russia’s golden girl and one of those who had her appeal rejected by CAS, was less choice with her words. The two-time Olympic pole vault champion said the ruling represented the ‘funeral’ of track and field. ‘Let all these pseudo-clean foreign athletes breathe a sigh of relief and win their pseudo-gold medals without us,’ she said. ‘They’ve always been frightened of strength.’ The ruling does not affect Yulia Stepanova, an 800metre runner and key whistleblower in exposing Russian doping, and Floridabased long jumper Darya Klishina, who are the only two to receive special dispensation to compete by the IAAF. It remains unclear whether this will be under a neutral flag, as preferred by the IAAF, or under the Russian flag, an option favoured by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is now up to the IOC to decide whether to issue a blanket ban on the entire Russian Olympic team after a report this week revealed systematic doping existed in almost every sport. The IOC executive board are to convene via a teleconference call on Sunday and that will be the earliest point at which any decision will be taken. The most likely option remains that the IOC will leave it to individual federations to decide on Russia’s inclusion in their own sport.