Russian Olympic chief rules out Rio boycott

Record ID: 94328

  • Title: Russian Olympic chief rules out Rio boycott
  • Date: 20th July 2016
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE HEAD, ALEXANDER ZHUKOV, SAYING: "The decision of the Court (of Arbitration for Sports) will be most likely be made tomorrow. And we will know tomorrow if our track and field athletes can take part in the Olympic Games. But today we have included them into the official bid of the Russian Olympic Committee. And they are a part
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2016 15:12
  • Keywords: Russia NOC IOC Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov Rio Olympics Olympic Games boycott doping ban WADA
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Olympics,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA0034RHSLDZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The head of Russia's Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov, said on Wednesday (July 20) that Russia had no intention of boycotting the Rio Games to protest against the way a doping scandal was being handled, saying politics had no place in sport.
    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday (July 19) it would consider banning Russia from the Games after a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation found evidence of a state-backed doping scheme at the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi.
    Russia is strongly opposed to such a ban and Zhukov said any unilateral decision to quit the Games would also be wrong.
    "We are categorically against any boycotts for political or any other reasons," Zhukov said. "Boycotts lead only to the collapse of the Olympic movement."
    "Attempts to use the Olympic Games as some kind of political weapon ... I thought that was all in the distant past," said Zhukov, referring to Cold War sporting tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1980s.
    The Russian Olympic Committee said it intended to take 387 sportsmen and women to Rio, including 68 track-and-field athletes who are currently appealing a doping ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland.
    A CAS ruling on their participation is expected on Thursday (July 21).
    Zhukov said the majority of international sporting federations supported Russian athletes competing in Rio.
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