UPDATE: Despite several comments from Russian officials, FINA denies that they have the final say on Morozov and Lobintsev competing in Rio.
Russian state-run media outlet TASS is reporting that both Vladimir Morozov and Nikita Lobintsev have been given the green light by FINA to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
Russian sports lawyer, Artyom Patsev, stated to TASS today, August 2nd, “Yes, Morozov and Lobintsev were granted permission from FINA to take part in the Olympics.”
FINA named both Morozov and Lobintsev as two of three swimmers who were a part of the “disappearing positives” program run by Russian doping authorities that turned positive tests into negative (clean) tests.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had instructed International Federations that all athletes who have previously been sanctioned for doping violations or who were named in the McLaren IP report related to the disappearing positive tests were ineligible for the Olympics, but largely put the onus on international federations.
Both Morozov and Lobintsev had lodged appeals with the Court Arbitration of Sport (CAS) and a decision from that organization was expected today.
In the meantime, Russian Swimming Federation President Vladimir Salnikov said in a press conference last week that (roughly translated from Russian), “the president of FINA Julio Maglione [a] few days ago expressed support for athletes Morozov [and] Lobintsov… [they have] not committed any violations[.] FINA has asked WADA confirms the information I hope that in the end the report of the independent commission WADA Richard McLaren will not affect their participation in the Olympic Games.”
Morozov and Lobintsev are key components of Russian relays, with Morozov having been part of the nation’s bronze medal-winning 4x100m freestyle squad at the 2012 Olympics, while Lobintsev scored a silver as part of Russia’s 4x200m freestyle relay in Beijing.
Reigning World Champion breaststroker, Yulia Efimova, also filed her appeal with CAS on July 31st, but no decision on her Olympic participation has yet been announced.
I’m sure the rubber stamp is ready for Efimova as well. What a joke. One group says one thing, the athletes appeal and voila, they’re in.
It is the nature of a Court of Arbitration that people will appeal what they consider an injustice by a non judicial body .
Look at the picture of Vlad at the top all juiced up.
Didnt you read the article? He is now officially clean, at least according to FINA (apparently), so nothing to see here, it was all just a big misunderstanding.
this really sucks. just speechless
Absolutely expected, lets wait for the weightlifters to be cleared and why not also allow the track and field athletes to compete? IOC and Bach are a joke. Now they can act as if they tried to really do something, although it was obvious all the time that CAS would overrule their decision. Russian officials and athletes still dont think that they did anything wrong and they can continue with their state-run doping system, while blaming the western countries for their “conspiracy”. Nothing will ever change until we get someone who is willing to really fight for clean sport, Bach showed that he isnt the one, Putin must be really proud of him.
I am feeling conflicted. There is so much that stinks here, but I am not sure what a fair process would look like given the extremely late publication date of the McLaren report. Given the long lead up to the Olympics, it seems like the report arrived at the last minute, and that’s not a lot of time to sort stuff out. This is going to take continued commitment and reform over the long haul (and I’m not just talking about Russians).
Unfortunately this was pretty much what everyone knew would happen here.
1980: Wow, I wonder what he’s been doing in practice.
2009: Wow, I wonder what suits he’s wearing.
2016: Wow, I wonder what he’s taking.
Yes. Doping did not exist before the ’80s. Yes.
Never said it didn’t. Simply stating that it was not as common or as suspected as it has become as of late.
This Olympics is approaching being a complete sham at this point. Allowing Sun, Efimova and Park to race is bad enough but add the truly shocking revelations of the recent WADA report, the extremely suspicious delay in the release of the names of athletes who tested positive in 2008 upon retest, Justin Gatlin running, Lizzie Armistead being allowed to race despite missing three tests (a particularly infuriating farce), the sketchyness of the Mo Farah story, the shambles that is Kenyan dope testing etc, etc. I have zero faith in any of these useless bureaucracies at this point.
Sorry, his family name is Yang, not Sun.
Hey Dave, family name is actually Sun.
I can never get that one right.
Armitstead is nothing like the others. She was tested in-competition the day after one of her missed tests.
Not to branch too far away from swimming but Iain I totally disagree and I’m a little tired of Armistead fans trying to explain this one away. A professional athlete (and reigning World Champion / most dominant road racer in the world) with a huge support network of professional and British Cycling coaches, doctors and staff has NO excuse for missing three tests regardless of whatever flimsy explanation was offered. This is not some simple case of lack of organization. The immediately subsequent test is totally irrelevant. Modern microdose doping is very precisely controlled and the test protocols have to be followed to the letter. A critical part of Armistead’s job is to follow anti-doping protocols and be available when… Read more »
The whereabouts system is actually incredibly difficult for athletes. They have to give there whereabouts for a certain amount of time every day. Presumably most use their training time as it will be fairly constant, but it still changes. It is very easy to miss these tests (which is not to say that athletes shouldn’t make the effort – which in fact Armitstead did).
Pros have problems all the time in this respect. In the third case Armitstead was very careful to follow protocols but the tester didn’t try hard to locate her – not exactly her fault.
‘Fat bottomed girls – you make the world go round ‘ .
Haha … that sadly doesnt mean anything. As far as i know it isnt allowed to test athletes between 11pm and 6am, so if you are not completely stupid, then you dope with a microdosis between 11pm and 6am and no one will be able to find anything the next day.
I just dont see a reason to argue for any athletes in sports like swimming, athletics, cycling or weightlifting, all the medal winners are dirty in my opinion. Team sports or sports like diving might be a completely different story.
Yeah, the 11pm-6am rule is a shambles as well when all the athletes are trying to adapt to the ridiculous times they have to compete in Rio.
Armitstead didn’t miss her third test, the testers missed her. That’s different. And the second test was missed due to urgent family affairs (but still her fault)