Olympic kayak champ among Russians banned from Rio

By James Ellingworth, The Associated Press

At least 105 athletes from the 387-member Russian Olympic team announced last week have so far been barred from the Rio Games in connection with the country's doping scandal.

International federations in canoeing, sailing and modern pentathlon ruled out eight on Tuesday, including an Olympic gold medallist . Rowing added 19 more athletes to three that had previously been announced. Swimming has also barred some athletes. Some appeals are likely.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media that Putin had discussed the doping issue with his national security council.

The vast majority of the Russian athletes who miss out are in track and field, where 67 athletes were ruled out when a ban on the Russian team was upheld at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week.

While Russia avoided a blanket ban from the International Olympic Committee, it has lost several medal contenders to new IOC rules imposed Sunday banning Russia from entering athletes who previously doped.

Alexander Dyachenko, an Olympic champion in 2012, was among five canoeists ruled out after being named in a recent report by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren alleging a state-sponsored doping cover-up.

McLaren's report last week specifically detailed how Russian state officials allegedly intervened to cover up hundreds of failed drug tests.

Dyachenko won gold in the men's double kayak 200 meters at the 2012 London Games.

The four other banned canoeists are Alexei Korovashkov — a 2012 bronze medalist in the C2 1,000 meters event — Andrei Kraitor, Elena Anyushina and Nataliya Podolskaya.

The ICF also said that Russia would not be allowed to enter boats in four events in which the excluded athletes would have raced. Therefore, Austria, Germany, Sweden and Iran are in line to receive their places.

Legal action looming

Lists of Russian athletes approved by international federations must still be approved by CAS arbiters who can reject athletes not tested outside Russia. The IOC refused to accept testing done by Russian agencies because of evidence that the process was corrupted.

On Monday, swimming's world governing body FINA ruled out seven Russians including reigning world 100m breaststroke champion Yulia Efimova.

Efimova's agent has said he is preparing an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the Russian Canoe Federation's general secretary Irina Sirayeva said that the five banned could follow suit.

"The intention to defend the athletes is there," she told R-Sport.

Triple jumper Ekaterina Koneva - a former world championship silver medalist - told local media she was considering a lawsuit in civil court.

Russia's track and field team is almost entirely banned from the games under an earlier decision from the IAAF, leaving long jumper Darya Klishina as the only athlete eligible to represent Russia out of 68 who were entered.

Banned list growing

The following Russian athletes have also been banned from competing in Rio:

• World Sailing says sailor Pavel Sozykin has been excluded from the Rio Olympics because his name was implicated in the McLaren report. Russia will be able to nominate a replacement for Sozykin's place in the 470, which is a two-person boat class.
• World Rowing Federation says 17 rowers did not meet the conditions to compete in Rio. Earlier on Tuesday, Ivan Podshivalov and Anastasia Karabelshchikova were excluded because they previously served doping bans, while Ivan Balandin from Russia's men's eight was implicated in the McLaren report.
• Volleyball player Alexander Markin told local media he had been dropped due to a positive test earlier this year for the banned substance meldonium, even though he had not been banned. The international volleyball federation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• The head of the Russian Wrestling Federation told the R-Sport agency that two-time world champion Viktor​ Lebedev was ineligible because he was given a doping ban in 2006.
• The International Modern Pentathlon Union says that Maxim Kustov and Ilya Frolov were mentioned in World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren's report last week as having allegedly had positive tests covered up by Russian authorities.

Judo, equestrian allowed to compete

The following Russian athletes have been cleared to compete:

• The International Judo Federation — which lists Russian President Vladimir Putin as its honorary president — will allow the Russia's seven male and four female judokas to participate in the Olympics, its head told Reuters on Tuesday. Federation president Marius Vizer said Putin's connection to the federation did not play any role in its decisions.
• World Rowing Federation says six Russian rowers met the conditions to compete at the Olympics.
• Russia's equestrian team has been allowed by the sport's federation to take part in the Olympic Games in Rio, R-Sport news agency cited the Russian Equestrian Federation as saying on Tuesday.
• Russia looks set to field a full team of four players in Olympic badminton, the Russian Badminton Federation said Tuesday, citing assurances from the Badminton World Federation.
• Tennis and shooting have also allowed Russian competitors to participate.
• World Sailing said on Tuesday it had provisionally confirmed that six Russian competitors could compete in the Rio Olympics while excluding Sozykin.

With files from Reuters