Rio Olympics 2016: 5 biggest Russian athletes we will miss at the Games

2) Yulia Efimova

Efimova is one of the bigger names in world swimming

Yuliya Efimova is a Russian competitive swimmer who will not be featuring at the Olympic Games due to the seven Russian swimmers being banned by the governing body FINA from competing at Rio.

However, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) has said that the "exact implication for the Russian Swimming Federation is still to be clarified" and an "ad-hoc commission will have to investigate". It further added that all samples collected from Russian swimmers at the 2015 world championships are being re-tested therefore the decision will be confirmed in the coming days.

Efimova has represented her nation at both the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics. The swimmer had won the bronze medal in the 200 metres breaststroke in the latter. She had also created a 50m breaststroke world record at the Barcelona 2013 FINA World Championships.

The Russian swimmer had also won the gold medal in the 50 m and 200 m breaststroke events at the same Championships.

But in 2014, the swimmer was reported to have failed a drug test which led to her getting disqualified from 31 October 2013 till 28 February 2015. The Russian was also stripped of her world records. Hence, with the IOC’s verdict that previously banned athletes will not be competing at the Games, we think that Efimova will need a miracle to be able to compete in Rio.