‘Clean Russian athletes’ appeal to IOC ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics
Fourteen Russian athletes who competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, including 10 medalists and 2012 high jump champion Anna Chicherova, tested positive in the reanalysis of their doping samples.
With their track team facing a ban from the 2016 Summer Games, a group of Russian athletes sent an impassioned letter to Olympic leaders ahead of Rio de Janeiro this summer.
The letter was addressed to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and signed by 13 members of the Russian athletes commission “on behalf of those Russian athletes whose careers have been built on respect for the principles of the Olympic Charter.”
The athletes acknowledged that allegations of widespread cheating in their country have “hit the reputation of the entire Russian sport very hard. We are aware that it is necessary to take a number of steps to restore confidence.”
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All of the nation’s track athletes were banned from international competition last year after a World Anti-Doping Agency report presented evidence of widespread cheating that included coaches, team doctors and officials.
Amid media reports of additional doping in other sports, there has been talk of excluding the country’s entire Olympic contingent.
Russian officials have responded with a series of reforms, allowing international experts to observe their anti-doping program and offering to conduct additional testing.
On Friday, the international track federation will convene to decide whether those changes are sufficient for reinstatement before the Games in August.
The athletes’ letter, provided to The Times by the Russian Olympic Committee, was signed by Olympic gold medalists in a range of sports, including figure skater Ekaterina Bobrova, swimmer Alexander Popov, synchronized swimmer Olga Brusnikina and gymnast Elena Zamolodchikova.
“In this situation it would be unfair if clean Russian athletes will be banned from the Olympic Games, at the same time allowing certain athletes from other countries who have a proven history of doping to perform without restriction,” the athletes wrote.
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