Thomas Bach insists IOC will catch all drug cheats at Rio Olympics as confirmation of Russian team is delayed

THE International Olympic Committee has approved 271 Russian athletes to take part in the Rio Games after a major doping review eliminated 118 competitors.

THE International Olympic Committee has approved 271 Russian athletes to take part in the Rio Games after a major doping review eliminated 118 competitors.

Russia, accused of operating a huge state-orchestrated doping system, will now have its smallest Olympic team since the pre-World War I Olympics of 1912 when they competed as the Russian Empire.

Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov said the team was “probably the cleanest in Rio” because of all the tests and checks they have undergone.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport is still hearing some Russian cases so the number could rise.

IOC President Thomas Bach attends a press conference

Elena Zamolodchikova, a two-time gymnastics gold medallist, said Russia was determined to finish top-10 on the medals table, a position they have occupied since the 1950s.

“We’ll do our best and I’m sure we’ll be in the top 10. Knowing the Russian character, we will compete,” she said.

Former pistol champion Mikhail Nestruyev said Russia expected to win “many” medals, adding that the troubled build-up had given them added incentive to do well.

Meanwhile, IOC boss Thomas Bach has warned Rio drug cheats would be caught and suspended, despite the overwhelming avalanche of evidence to the contrary.

Bach said athletes competing in the Rio Olympics would be subjected to 4500 urine and 1000 blood-tests, with samples stored for the next decade.

“The message is clear. There is no place to hide for cheats and dopers can never keep safe,’’ he said.

Yet even as Bach spoke the IOC was under more sustained attack, this time from the author of the report used to help ban Russian athletes for state-sponsored doping.

Richard McLaren claimed the IOC had misrepresented his report into Russian doping, saying it was used to ban individual athletes rather than sanction the entire country.

Just a day out from the Rio Opening ceremony former WADA investigator Jack Robertson also criticised the IOC for failing to protect the whistleblower who exposed Russia’s tactics.

Robertson blamed 75-year-old WADA president Craig Reedie for the turmoil, saying the anti-doping organisation had sat on his report for a year before acting.

Bach said he could look athletes in the eyes, content he had done the right thing.

“We will are storing the samples and we will follow up with the evolution in science research and testing.”

“I think we all agree that this is a situation we don’t want to have happen ever again in sport.”

As many as two-thirds of the Russian team will still compete, including their shooters, boxers, tennis players, sailors, archers and equestrian riders.”

McLaren said his report was used as evidence to ban individual Russians rather than act courageously against a nation conducting an extraordinary level of doping and cover-up.

People have misconstrued what was in that report, particularly the IOC and international federations. I have not done the work to drill down and see which athletes may have been doping and what they had been using,” he said.

“The report was about state-sponsored doping, manipulation of results, swapping of samples, preparation of wash up schemes before London 2012. It’s a state run system. That’s what in the report and people seem to have completely missed that.”

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Originally published as Thomas Bach insists IOC will catch all drug cheats at Rio Olympics as confirmation of Russian team is delayed