Seven Russian swimmers barred from Olympic Games in Russia by sport’s governing body
Seven Russian swimmers have been banned from competing at next month’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro by the International Swimming Federation (Fina), the sport’s governing body.
Reigning world 100m breaststroke champion Yulia Efimova is one of four swimmers withdrawn by the Russian Olympic Committee.
Three others appeared in the World Anti-Doping Agency-commissioned McLaren Report, which concluded that Russia operated a four-year state-sponsored doping programme across the majority of summer and winter Olympic sports.
Following the report, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decreed on Sunday that it would leave the decision as to whether competitors are clean and should be permitted to compete in Rio to the individual sports’ governing bodies.
Whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova, meanwhile, has described the decision of the IOC to impose an Olympic ban on her as “unfair”. The governing body ruled that she should not participate under a neutral flag having previously failed a drugs test.