Tribunal lets Russia’s Klishina back into Rio Games

RIO DE JANEIRO: The world sports tribunal on Monday overturned a last-minute IAAF ban on long-jumper Darya Klishina taking part in the Rio Olympics.

Klishina, 25, was the only Russian accepted for the Olympic track and field but the sport’s world body suspended her on Friday after new information on her doping record emerged.

After a day of hearings, the Court of Arbitration (CAS) announced that Klishina’s appeal had succeeded and she remained eligible to compete in the Olympic Games here.

The decision came just in time for Klishina, a former European indoor champion, to resume her campaign for the women’s long-jump competition which starts on Tuesday (today).

Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko welcomed the decision, saying “you cannot punish her for what she did not do”.

The appeal was the latest fallout from the inquiry by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren for the World Anti-Doping Agency which accused Russia of mass “state-sponsored” doping.

The CAS said it was McLaren who provided the “new factual elements” about Klishina which led the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to revoke her Rio eligibility.

The IAAF doping board rejected 67 athletes entered by Russia but accepted Klishina, who is based in Florida, because she lived abroad and had been through regular international doping checks after a cutoff period starting January 1, 2014

The doping review board told the CAS hearing that certain of the athlete’s samples has been subject to tampering and manipulation, according to the tribunal’s statement.

Media reports have said two bottles of Klishina’s urine samples had been tampered with and one of the samples contained two different kinds of DNA.

The CAS panel decided however that despite McLaren’s new information, Klishina complied with the relevant criteria (to compete here) because of her permanent residence outside Russia.