The Latest on the Rio Games (all times local to Rio de Janeiro):
7:25 p.m.
Brazilian soccer star Neymar says the problems at the athletes’ village could harm the preparations of some Olympic competitors at the Rio Games.
“If this is all true, we have to lament it. We had so much time to get everything ready, but some things didn’t work out,” he said as Brazil’s men’s team prepares for the Olympic tournament.
“I hope they fix all the problems,” he said. “It’s complicated for athletes to come from abroad and realize that their accommodation is not in good condition. You prepare three years of your life to be in the Olympics and then something like this ends up hurting you. It’s not nice. I hope they can fix everything and that everybody can be happy”
Brazil’s men’s team is preparing for the games at a training camp in the mountain city of Teresopolis on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
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7:10 p.m.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has opened two temporary offices in Rio de Janeiro to handle doping cases at the games.
Usually used as a higher court after an initial sanction of an athlete, CAS says “for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games” it will be used as “a first-instance authority.”
In a statement, CAS says it will adjudicate on doping cases “after hearing the parties concerned” and “may also impose provisional suspensions pending the conclusion of the procedure.”
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, CAS first opened local offices at Olympics for the Atlanta Games in 1996.
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6:35 p.m.
Rowing Australia has welcomed the decision by FISA, rowing’s ruling body, to award its women’s eight team a place at the Rio Games, after deciding that the Russian team was ineligible.
FISA announced earlier Tuesday that Russian boats in four categories were being withdrawn from the games, following strict anti-doping criteria announced by the IOC in the wake of allegations of widespread doping and cover-ups in Russia.
Russia’s rowing spots are going to Australia, Greece and two teams from Italy, FISA said.
Rob Scott, chairman of Rowing Australia, says “the decision, handed down by FISA today, is an incredible boost for Australian women’s sweep rowing and women’s rowing in general.”
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5:40 p.m.
Brazil’s starting goalkeeper for the men’s soccer tournament has injured his right elbow and could miss the team’s final warmup match ahead of the Rio Games.
Fernando Prass did not practice on Tuesday after complaining of pain in his elbow and it remains unclear whether he will be fit to play the friendly against Japan on Saturday. The 38-year-old Palmeiras player will be re-evaluated daily.
Prass was one of the players older than 23 selected for Brazil’s squad, under Olympic soccer rules.
Brazil’s opening game at the Olympics is against South Africa on Aug. 4 in Brasilia.
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2:50 p.m.
The world’s rowing federation has rejected 22 of the 28 rowers that Russia entered into the Olympics.
In an announcement Tuesday, the federation said none of the 28 rowers have tested positive in the last five years.
But the federation acknowledged the “Disappearing Positive Methodology” that independent investigator Richard McLaren found was used to make some positive tests go away. It analyzed the rowers’ international tests and determined that all but six failed to meet the criteria set by the IOC.
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1:45 p.m.
World Sailing says a Russian sailor has been excluded from the Rio Olympics because his name was implicated in an alleged doping cover-up scheme.
Pavel Sozykin, who was due to compete in the 470 class, was named in a report by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren as an alleged beneficiary of the cover-up scheme, World Sailing said.
Russia will be able to nominate a replacement for Sozykin’s place in the 470, which is a two-person boat class.
The other six athletes on the Russian team were approved.
So far this week, 11 other Russian athletes in swimming, canoeing, rowing and modern pentathlon have been excluded from Rio on the basis of McLaren’s findings.
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12:55 p.m.
The International Judo Federation says it has approved Russia’s judo team to compete at the Olympics.
Federations are required to examine the drug-testing history of Russian Olympic athletes, and to check if they were implicated in the alleged doping cover-up involving government officials.
The IJF says that it “continues to support the participation of all Russian athletes qualified for the Rio Olympic Games” and that they were all “tested a number of times” ahead of the Olympics.
The list of 11 Russian athletes approved by the IJF must now be submitted to an arbitrator from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The IJF is widely seen as close to Russia on sports policy issues. Its honorary president is Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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12:45 p.m.
The umbrella body for summer Olympic sports says the Russian doping scandals have been misused for “media exposure and political influence” at the expense of the Rio Games.
The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations criticizes what it calls “important voices, both within and outside the Olympic movement” for allegedly exploiting Russian doping for their own ends.
The ASOIF statement suggests that it would have been better to act on the interim report of World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren, which alleged a massive cover-up of Russian doping cases, after the games in Rio.
The International Olympic Committee on Sunday decided against a blanket ban for Russia in light of the McLaren report, but tightened entry criteria for Russian athletes.
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10:55 a.m.
The leader of the U.S. Olympic Committee says the IOC’s concerns about individual justice are well-founded but must be applied to benefit athletes who compete against state-sponsored doping systems.
In a statement released after the IOC’s decision to not ban the entire Russian Olympic contingent, Scott Blackmun said if the individual sports enforce the conditions established by the IOC for entry and the IOC makes sure those conditions are met, then it would be a step in the right direction.
Blackmun also reiterated what he’s said all summer: that the system is flawed and in need of reform.
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10:15 a.m.
The International Shooting Sport Federation has cleared all 18 members of the Russian team to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The ISSF says none of the 18 previously served doping bans and none were mentioned in World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren’s recent report into alleged Russian doping cover-ups.
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10 a.m.
Two Russian modern pentathlon athletes have been barred from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after being implicated in an alleged doping cover-up.
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.
Kustov had been entered for the Russian team, with Frolov as a reserve, and both will now be excluded, the UIPM says. Latvian athlete Ruslan Nakonechny replaces Kustov in the men’s event.
The UIPM, which approved Russia’s other three entries, says it “is fully committed in the fight against doping.”
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9 a.m.
Heading into the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency has warned there is insufficient drug testing in a number of ex-Soviet countries with some of the world’s worst doping records.
Asked about countries including Ukraine, Belarus and Central Asian states, WADA spokeswoman Maggie Durand told The Associated Press by email that “there is a need to increase testing capacity in all of these regions and we are working with these countries to ensure more testing is occurring.”
Many ex-Soviet countries conducted few tests in 2014, the last year for which worldwide figures are available, with just two tests all year in Ukraine.
Durand says Azerbaijan’s anti-doping activities “have not been progressing to the level that one would expect.”
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8:45 a.m.
Olympic champion Alexander Dyachenko and four other Russian canoeists have been barred from competing at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after being named in a recent report alleging a state-sponsored doping cover-up.
The International Canoe Federation said that the five were mentioned in World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren’s report last week, which specifically detailed how Russian state officials allegedly intervened to cover up hundreds of failed drug tests.
[Source:- HERALD COURIOR]
