8) Russian athletes allowed to compete after major doping scandal – but not all of them
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Even before the Olympics got underway, a German documentary on a massive doping scandal that went all the way up to the Russian government saw Russian athletes in danger of missing out on the Olympic Games in Rio. The World Anti-Doping Agency suddenly found itself under a microscope as the world waited for them to make a decision.
Ultimately, an independent investigation confirmed that the Russian State was involved in the manipulation of the entire doping control process. But the world was in for a shock when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed 271 athletes to compete in spite of WADA’s recommendation for a blanket ban after the truth came out regarding the state-sponsored doping programme that ran from 2011 to 2015.
Strict conditions were set for many athletes to take part and it involved and most Russian athletes who trained outside Russia were allowed to compete. But this had an adverse effect on clean athletes who had trained in their homeland and were still denied permission to compete in Rio.
One such case was champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbaeva who had won three medals at the Olympics (including two gold medals). She was attempting to make a comeback before the devastating news hit her and even an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) did not help.
