ITU says yes to Russian triathletes
ITU says that Russian triathletes will be allowed to compete at the Olympics in Rio
Following Sunday’s news that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will leave it up to each of the individual international sporting federations on whether to allow Russian athletes to compete in their sports at the Olympic Games, the International Triathlon Union have decided to allow Russian athletes to compete in the triathlon races on 18 and 20 August.
In a statement the governing body said: “The ITU has carefully examined the information delivered by WADA and the McLaren report. Additionally, ITU has thoroughly reviewed the criteria set forth by the IOC on Sunday for Russian athletes to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“None of the six Russian triathletes (three men, three women) that have qualified for 2016 Olympics are included in the McLaren report, nor have any of them served suspensions or bans for failed doping tests. Additionally, they have all been tested outside of Russia.
“Therefore, ITU will recommend to the IOC that these six athletes be permitted to compete in Rio next month. ITU remains steadfast in our commitment to providing athletes a fair competition. We will continue to closely follow the updates from the McLaren report, as well as recommendations from WADA and the IOC on best practices in the fight against doping.”
There are six qualification spots for the Russian team, with triathletes likely to be selected include Dmitry Polyanskiy, Igor Polyanskiy and Alexander Bryukhankov on the men’s side for the 18 August event. In the female race, Alexandra Razarenova, Anastasia Abrosimova and Mariya Shorets are all potential candidates to be on the women’s start line on 20 August.
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