“Deliberate campaign targeting our athletes”: Putin at Rio send-off
July 28, 2016, 5:05 am

Putin spoke with two-time Olympic pole-vaulting champion Yelena Isinbayeva, the most high-profile of the 67 track and field athletes banned from the games, standing beside him at the Kremlin, Moscow on 27 July 2016. Fighting back tears, Isinbayeva told the Russian athletes: “Show them what you’re able to do — for yourself and for us too.” [Image: PPIO]

After 108 Russians were banned from next month’s Olympics in Brazil, Russian President Vladimir Putin hit out at the “campaign targeting” Russian athletes.

“Not only have many of our athletes suffered from these allegations made against them for which – I want to stress – there is not the slightest concrete evidence, but this has dealt a blow to global sport in general and to the Olympic Games,” Putin said at a send-off for the Russian Olympic contingent.

Russian Olympic Committee chief Alexander Zhukov on Wednesday told state-run Rossiya-24 that despite the bans more than 250 athletes are set to participate in the Rio Olympics.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has accused the Russian Sports Ministry of orchestrating the doping cover-up. On Sunday, individual sports federations were given the task of deciding which athletes should be cleared to compete in Rio by the International Olympic Committee.

“This campaign that targets our country’s athletes includes the use of notorious double standards and the principle of collective responsibility, or, as was said, “reversal of the presumption of innocence”,” Putin said on Wednesday.

The Russian President noted that while doping scandals have affected global sports, there are double standards at play while meting out punishments.

“It is as if someone wants to divide sportspeople into ‘ours’ and ‘theirs’ and obtain competitive advantages that do not conform with the principle of fair competition,” Putin said.

“Clearly, the absence of Russian athletes who were leaders in some of the sports will affect the competition,” he added.

TBP and Agencies