Russia: Sport Federations Removed Athletes From Result of McLaren Report

With the publication of the McLaren Report on the accusation of government sponsored doping from Russia the IOC has ruled that Russia will not be banned from the 2016 Olympic Games, but gave each sport federation a set of rules to follow and remove athletes should they not meet the standards. The notable rules include the removal of all athletes implicated in the report, the removal of athletes whom have doped in the past and the removal of athletes which have not satisfied testing standards after excluding the results from the Moscow lab. While most sports did not make any changes others have.

Before the report was released athletics had already banned all of Russia’s athletes, with the exception of ones which have been out of the Russian testing system long enough. Currently only Darya Klishina has satisfied IAAF’s standard, she will compete in the women’s long jump. The other 67 athletes chosen by Russia did not make the standard. Yuliya Stepanova was also eligible to compete, but due to her role in exposing the Russian doping scandal she currently has not been selected to compete.

Besides athletics the biggest loss of athlete quotas comes from rowing. Originally Russia qualified five boats with 28 athletes (including 2 coxswains). In total 20 athletes were found to not have sufficient testing, causing World Rowing to remove four boats from Russia; the men’s lightweight fours, men’s eights, women’s lightweight double sculls and women’s eights. Russia was allowed to make a team to compete in the men’s fours out of the remaining six rowers; the two coxswains were technically eligible though for obvious reasons were not going to be selected. The reallocated boats went to Australia (women’s eights), Greece (men’s lightweight fours) and Italy (men’s eights and women’s lightweight double sculls).

Overall only one sport suffered a full banned. Due to multiple athletes getting caught doping the International Weightlifting Federation has completely banned Russia. Earlier Russia lost one man and one woman quota due to excess doping violations, but now they have lost the remaining eight (5 men, 3 women) quotas. The women’s quotas have been reallocated to Albania, Georgia and Moldova while the men’s quotas have been reallocated to Belgium, Croatia, El Salvador, Mongolia and Serbia.

In aquatics only swimmers were removed. Four athletes were removed due to having prior doping violations while three more were removed due to being implicated into the report. One of these athletes was open water swimmer Anastasia Krapivina. This means her quota has been reallocated to Hungary’s Anna Olasz.

The International Canoeing Federation announced five athletes scheduled to compete at the 2016 Olympics will be removed due to their involvement in the report. This has caused Russia to lose athlete quotas in five boats; men’s K2 200m, men’s C1 200m, men’s C2 1000m, women’s K1 200m and women’s K2 500m. The quotas have been reallocated to Austria (women’s K2 500m), Germany (women’s K1 200m), Iran (men’s C1 200m) and Sweden (men’s K2 200m). The men’s C2 1000m was not reallocated. The additional boat in the women’s K1 500m which did not use an athlete quota has also been removed.

Edit: Sweden has declined the quota, it has been reallocated to Canada

In cycling six athletes were withdrawn, three due to previous doping violations and three others whom were implicated in the report. Currently the UCI has not named the athletes or any potential change in the quotas.

In modern pentathlon Maksim Kustov and alternate Ilia Frolov were connected in the report and have been excluded. The quota was reallocated to Latvia’s Ruslan Nakonechnyi.

United World Wrestling removed one wrestler due to a prior doping violation. Viktor Lebedev has been removed from his event, men’s freestyle -57kg. The quota was reallocated to Belarus.

In sailing one athlete, in the men’s 470 was connected to the report and has been removed. However, Russia has been given an opportunity to make a late replacement.

In total, including athletics the Russian team has shrank by 122 athletes. While most of them were removed due to previous doping offenses or being included in the report others have been excluded due to being teammates of someone who has doped.

 

Net Athlete Quotas by Nations

• Italy – 11
• Australia – 9
• Greece – 4
• Austria – 2
• Canada – 2
• Albania – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Belgium – 1
• Croatia – 1
• El Salvador – 1
• Georgia – 1
• Germany – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Iran – 1
• Latvia – 1
• Moldova – 1
• Mongolia – 1
• Serbia – 1
• Russia – -122

 

Note: Possible cycling reallocations have yet to be announced.

 

References

• The Star. IAAF turns down 67 Russian applications to compete internationally. Access on July 29 2016.
• WorldRowing. FISA Determines Six Russian Rowers meet conditions for participation in Rio 2016. Access on July 29 2016.
• IWF. IWF EB decision on Russian participation at the Rio 2016 OG. Access on July 29 2016.
• SwimSwam. Fields confirmed for Olympic Games golf com FINA Says World Champs Efimova, Morozov Pulled from Olympic Gamespetitions. Access on July 29 2016.
• UCI. UCI statement on the eligibility of Russian riders at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Access on July 29 2016.
• ICF. Canoeing Removes Five Russian Athletes from Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Access on July 29 2016.
• CBC. Canada sending men’s kayak K2 200-metres crew to Rio. Access on July 29 2016.
• UIPM. UIPM Executive Board decides on Russia participation in Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Access on July 29 2016.
• UWW. Wrestling’s Special Commission Completes Review of Russian Wrestlers, Sends Recommendations. Access on July 29 2016.
• ISAF. World Sailing provisionally confirms the participation of six athletes for the Rio Olympic Games. Access on July 29 2016.

Modern Pentathlon: Athletes Qualify After Olympic Rankings Are Published

The International Modern Pentathlon Union has published the Olympic Qualification Rankings. Athletes are able to earn points in various competitions such as the World Championship, the World Cups and continental championships. Originally the top 6 men and women were supposed to qualify, but due to reallocations the top 8 men and top 10 women not yet qualified are qualified to the Olympics. As a reminder in modern pentathlon the athlete is directly qualified. If a nation has more than two athletes per gender qualified then they must select two from that list. The Olympic Qualification Rankings contain events starting on May 30th 2015 and ending on May 29th 2016.

For the men’s rankings world number one James Cooke of Great Britain leads the qualification list. Also qualified are Amro El Geziry (Egypt), Adam Marosi (Hungary), Omar El Geziry (Egypt), Maksim Kustov (Russia), Justinas Kinderis (Lithuania), Yasser Hefny (Egypt) and Guo Jian-Li (China). Since Egypt has three qualified athletes through the Olympic rankings (plus one through the African Championship) after selecting two athletes at least one will be reallocated through the Olympic rankings meaning Bence Demeter (Hungary) is guaranteed a spot.

For the women’s rankings the qualified athlete list is led by world number three Zsofia Foldhazi of Hungary.  Also qualifying are Annika Schleu (Germany), Claudia Cesarini (Italy), Anastasiya Prokopenko (Belarus), Ieva Serapinaite (Lithuania), Freyja Prentice (Great Britain), Gintare Venckauskaite (Lithuania), Iryna Khokhlova (Argentina), Melanie McCann (Canada) and Margaux Isaksen (United States).

Overall a few nations have more than two athletes in one event meaning they will have to choose two. Should the rejected quota come from a continental qualifier then the next best athlete from that event will be selected. In all other cases the reallocated quota will be through the Olympic Qualification Rankings. Also the tripartite quotas need to be announced, if things are similar to 2012 they may also be reallocated to the rankings.

 

Athletes by Nations

• Egypt – 3
• Lithuania – 3
• Great Britain – 2
• Hungary – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Belarus – 1
• Canada – 1
• China – 1
• Germany – 1
• Italy – 1
• Russia – 1
• United States – 1

 

References

• UIPM. Modern Pentathlon Men Senior OG Rankings. Access on June 1 2016.
• UIPM. Modern Pentathlon Women Senior OG Rankings. Access on June 1 2016.

Modern Pentathlon: France and Hungary Win Gold At World Championship

France and Hungary won gold at the 2016 Modern Pentathlon World Championship. The top three ranked athletes in each gender qualified to the Olympics. Should an athlete have already qualified to the Olympics then the quotas will be reallocated to the world rankings which will be published at the end of the month. The Modern Pentathlon World Championship was held in Moscow, Russia from May 23rd to May 29th 2016.

The women’s race saw a new world record in the swimming portion where France’s Elodie Clouvel finished the leg with a time of 2:06.59. The ranking round of fencing was won by Russia’s Donata Rimsaite. Hungary’s Sarolta Kovacs was one of the few people to score a perfect round in the riding portion where she held the overall lead going into the combined running and shooting. Despite several strong runs Kovacs was able to maintain her lead to win gold with a 1386 point total. Clouvel and Germany’s Lena Schoneborn won the silver and bronze medal respectively with a point total of 1374 and 1373 respectively. Since all three athletes have previously qualified to the Olympics the quotas have been reallocated to the world rankings.

The men’s race saw Egypt’s El Geziry brothers start off strong as Amro had the fastest swimming time of 1:56.50 while his brother Omar had the best performance in fencing. A relatively poor performance in the riding left Amro in third place going into the final portion while Omar led the pack. South Korea’s Jung Jinhwa was set to start in second. Amro held the lead for much of the combined running and shooting until the third series of shots where mistakes pushed him out of contention as Russia’s Aleksander Lesun, Jung and France’s Valentin Belaud raced out ahead of him. Eventually Belaud moved into first place and won the overall title with 1514 points. Lesun won silver and Jung won bronze with 1510 and 1504 points respectively. Only Jung qualified to the Olympics as both Belaud and Lesun have previously obtained their own quota. The other two quotas were reallocated to the world rankings

As a reminder a nation can only take two athletes per gender to the Olympics in modern pentathlon. Since South Korea has four men qualified they can only choose two causing the other two to be eventually reallocated. The final stage of qualification will occur over the next few days with the release of the Olympic rankings at the end of the month.

 

References

• UIPM. 2016 UIPM Senior World Championships. Access on May 28 2016.

Modern Pentathlon: Ten Nations Qualify at European Championships

Ireland and Lithuania won gold at the individual events at the 2015 European Modern Pentathlon Championships. The top 8 not already qualified athletes from each gender will be given spots to compete at the Olympics. The European championships were held in Bath, Great Britain from August 18th to August 23rd 2015.

In the men’s event it was Great Britain’s James Cooke which took the early lead after the swimming portion with a very good time of 1:56:16. Though the lead was short lived as he finished 20th after the fencing portion, instead it was Russia’s Maksim Kustov that took the overall lead. However the lead also did not last long as an unfortunate riding portion where Kustov’s horse had a refusal dropped him into sixth place. Instead after three strong performances it was Ireland’s Arthur Lanigan-O’ Keeffe that had a 20 second lead going into the final combined portion. A strong performance by France’s Valentin Prades and Italy’s Riccardo de Luca was enough to place them into the medals, but it was not enough to catch Lanigan-O’ Keeffe as he went on to win the gold medal ahead of Prades and de Luca respectively.

Because Riccardo de Luca had already qualified to the Olympics through the World Cup Final ninth place Jan Kuf of Czech Republic was given the final quota. The other athletes that qualified to the Olympics were David Svoboda (Czech Republic), Robert Kasza (Hungary), Egor Puchkarevskiy (Russia), Joseph Choong (Great Britain) and Valentin Belaud (France).

In the women’s race it was France’s Elodie Clouvel who took the lead by winning both the swimming and fencing portions. Even a relatively poor performance in the riding portion where she finished 19th was not enough to prevent her from having the overall lead going into the combined portion. However a terrible performance in the final portion opened up the possibility of her getting caught. It was Lithuania’s Laura Asadauskaite that went from 11th place to passing Clouvel right at the end to win the overall title. Germany’s Lena Schoneborn won the bronze medal.

Since Asadauskaite had already qualified to the Olympics through the World Cup Final ninth place Alice Sotero of Italy was given the final quota. Also since continental championships have higher priority than the 2015 world championships Schoneborn’s quota from the world championships has been reallocated to Sarolta Kovacs of Hungary. The remaining Olympic quotas went to Gulnaz Gubaydullina (Russia), Oktawia Nowacka (Poland), Janine Kohlmann (Germany), Anastasiya Spas (Ukraine) and Kate French (Great Britain).

With the end of the continental championships most of the spots have now been filled. The remaining spots will be filled by the 2016 World Championships and the world rankings due to be published just before the Olympics.

Quotas by Nation

• France – 3
• Czech Republic – 2
• Germany – 2
• Great Britain – 2
• Russia – 2
• Hungary – 1
• Ireland – 1
• Italy – 1
• Poland – 1
• Ukraine – 1

References

• UIPM. Senior European Championships Olympic Qualification Results. Access on August 23 2015.

Modern Pentathlon: Egypt Wins Both Races at African Championships

Egypt swept the medals in both the men’s and women’s race showing that they still control modern pentathlon at the 2015 African Modern Pentathlon Championships. The winner of each race would qualify themselves and their nation to the Olympics. The African championships were held in Cairo, Egypt from August 21st to August 22nd 2015.

In the men’s race it was Egypt’s Amro El Geziry that won the fencing and swimming portions of the event and while he had a relative weak performance in the jumping portion he was still in the lead going into the combination portion. However, El Geziry’s Olympic bid was disrupted by his compatriot Eslam Hamad who passed him mid-way during the final portion to win the overall title and the Olympic quota. To complete the sweep third place went to Omar El Geziry of Egypt.

The women’s race had Aya Medany of Egypt take the overall lead with a strong performance in the first three portions. The combined event however had third place Haydy Morsy of Egypt pass both Medany and her compatriot Reem Yakout to win the gold medal and the Olympic quota.

Egypt had always been the dominant nation in Africa, but they will be looking to try to translate some of that success into world success. All is not over for the other athletes as they could still qualify through the 2016 world championships or through the world rankings.

Quotas by Nation

• Egypt – 2

References

• UIPM. African Championships Olympic Qualification Results. Access on August 21 2015.

Modern Pentathlon: Brazil and Guatemala Win at Pan American Games

Brazil and Guatemala both won the modern pentathlon events held at the Pan American Games. The rules for the continental qualifier for Pan America are a bit different than the other continents. While 5 quotas were available for both genders at least one of them had to be in the NORCECA and South American region and only one athlete per nation is able to qualify instead of two or more. The Pan America Games are currently being held in Toronto, Canada from July 7th to July 26th 2015. The modern pentathlon events were held from July 18th to July 19th 2015.

In the women’s race it was Brazil’s Yane Marques who had a great start by winning both the fencing and swimming portions. A relatively poor performance in the riding portion didn’t stop her from having a 36 second lead over the entire field going into the final portion. Over the running and shooting portion Tamara Vega of Mexico produced a near-flawless performance where she finished just one second behind Marques for silver. Compatriot Mayan Oliver won the bronze, but did not get an Olympic quota due to the one quota per nation rule. The other three quotas went to Donna Vakalis of Canada, Isabel Brand of Guatemala and Leydi Moya of Cuba. Since Marques finished in third at the world championship that quota has been reallocated to the next best ranked eligible person in that event, Great Britain’s Samantha Murray.

Guatemala’s Charles Fernandez took the overall lead with an impressive performance in fencing and was able to maintain it despite the weather delays for the final portion where he had a 17 second lead, ahead of Nathan Schrimsher of the United States who was 11 seconds ahead of Ismael Hernandez of Mexico. Part-way through the final portion Hernandez was able to overtake Schrimsher while also making cuts into Fernandez lead. However, Hernandez just simply ran out of space as Fernandez won the gold medal with a 5 second advantage. Schrimsher won the bronze to also book a ticket to Rio. The other two quotas went to Jose Figueroa of Cuba and Emmanuel Zapata of Argentina.

In modern pentathlon the quota is tied to the athlete instead of going straight to the NOC. The continental championships will continue with visits to Europe and Africa over the month of August.

Quotas by Nation

• Cuba – 2
• Guatemala – 2
• Mexico – 2
• Argentina – 1
• Brazil – 1
• Canada – 1
• United States – 1

References

• UIPM. Pan American Games: Storming performances and new qualified athletes for Rio 2016. Access on July 19 2015.

Modern Pentathlon: Tymoshchenko and Schoneborn Wins World Championship

Russia and Ukraine both won two quotas a piece at the 2015 World Modern Pentathlon Championships. The event was held in Berlin, Germany from June 29th to July 5th 2015. The top three athletes qualify from each event provided they have not qualified at the World Cup Final or a continental qualifier (even if the qualifier happens in the future).

A slightly different format occurred in the men’s race as the event started with the swimming portion instead of fencing. Egypt’s Amro El Geziry performance at the pool and fencing was enough to give him first after the two portions, but a terrible riding portion and a subsequent withdrawal for the combined portion ended his attempt to be crowned world championship. Instead it was China’s Han Jiahao who led going into the final portion with a six second lead over Russia’s Aleksander Lesun. Lesun was soon able to catch up to Han and was able to take the overall lead, but the most impressive run was done by Ukraine’s Pavlo Tymoshchenko. Starting the day at 31st Tymoshechenko worked his way up in the standings and despite a second place finish in the riding portion he was still far off from the lead. In a very fast running/shooting portion he was able to get within a medal position and was then able to pass Lesun during the final lap to take gold. Ukraine’s Andriy Fedechko received the bronze medal and the final Olympic spot.

Like with the men’s race the women’s race also began with the swimming portion which was won by Elodie Clouvel of France. Despite a horrendous start at swimming Germany’s 2008 Olympic gold medalist Lena Schoneborn set a world record at the fencing portion and a strong 6th place finish in the riding portion gave her a 9 second advantage going into the combined event. With the lead she was able to maintain her position and win the overall title. The fight for second was between 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Yane Marques of Brazil and Chen Qian of China where the race came down to the final 800m. In the end it was Chen that took the silver medal, but since she already won a spot at the Asian Championships the final Olympic spot went to Donata Rimsaite of Russia.

As a reminder the continental qualifiers have priority over the world championships so if an athlete qualifies through that the next best ranked athlete here will then qualify.

Quotas by Nations

• Russia – 2
• Ukraine – 2
• Brazil – 1
• Germany – 1

References

• UIPM. Pavlo Tymoshchenko is the new World Champion. Access on July 5 2015.
• UIPM. Lena Schoneborn wins the World Championship at home. Access on July 5 2015.

Modern Pentathlon: De Luca and Asadauskaite Win World Cup Final

Italy and Lithuania both won quotas in modern pentathlon at the 2015 World Cup Final. The event was held in Minsk, Belarus from June 11th to June 14th 2015. 36 of the best men and women over the past season qualified to the final event with the winner in the men’s and women’s race getting a spot to compete for their nation. Unlike in most sports Olympic quotas are given by name, not to the nation to decide later.

In the men’s race despite winning the fencing and riding portions a very poor swimming portion placed Italy’s Riccardo de Luca into third place going into the combined shooting and running event. Despite having a 21 second lead over the entire field going into the combined portion Egypt’s Amro El Geziry had a poor showing which eventually led to him finishing in fourth overall. Instead the race for the title was between de Luca and Ukraine’s Pavlo Tymoshchenko where the winner was not known until the final lap where de Luca took over the race to win the title. Kazakhstan’s Pavel Ilyashenko finished in third.

The athletes in the women’s race had their positions changed often after each event, but it was Italy’s Gloria Tocchi who held a 5 second lead going into the final event. However it was reigning Olympic champion Laura Asadauskaite which quickly caught up to Tocchi during the first lap and was able to hold the lead for the rest of the race. The fight for third place was a sprint as Australia’s Chloe Esposito was able to pass Zsofia Foldhazi of Hungary during the final lap.

Next up for modern pentathlon will be the 2015 World Championships where more athletes will be able to qualify for the Olympics.

Quotas by Nation

• Italy – 1
• Lithuania – 1

Reference

UIPM. Riccardo de Luca wins in Minsk. Access on June 14 2015.

UIPM. Laura Asadauskaite to defend her Olympic title. Access on June 14 2015.

Modern Pentathlon: China and Australia Win at Asian Modern Pentathlon Championships

China has qualified the maximum quota while South Korea has qualified 3 quotas at the 2015 Asian Modern Pentathlon Championships. The event was held in Beijing, China from June 1st to 6th 2015. The Asian championship combines the best athletes from Asia and Oceania. The top 5 athletes from Asia and the top athlete from Oceania from each gender qualify to the Olympics. Unlike in some sports the spots are tied to the athlete themselves and not the nation. Should a nation qualify more than two athletes per gender then the nation will be able to choose which two of those athletes will go to the Olympics.

The women’s event was a fight between China’s Chen Qian and South Korea’s Kim Sunwoo. Sunwoo took the early lead after the fencing event, but with a great performance in the swimming and riding events Qian was able to solidify her lead over the entire field. While Sunwoo had a better time in the running/shooting event it was not enough to win as she finished with 1387 points while Qian won the event with 1402. China’s Liang Wanxia finished in third with 1367 points. The other quota spots went to Chloe Esposito of Australia, China’s Zhang Xiaonan and Japan’s Natsumi Tomonaga. However, since China has three athletes qualified one of the quotas will be eventually reallocated to Kazakhstan’s Elena Potapenko.

The men’s event had an interesting ending where Australia’s Max Esposito, brother to Sophie who qualified in the women’s event began the final event in fifth, but through some accurate shooting and timely misses from his competitors was able to move himself up to first to win the overall event with 1508 points. Second went to Jun Woongtae of South Korea while third went to Lee Donggi of South Korea. The other quota spots went to Su Haihang of China, Cao Zhongrong of China and South Korea’s Hwang Woojin. However, since South Korea has three qualified athletes one of the quotas will be eventually reallocated to Japan’s Tomoya Miguchi.

Since the Asian championships occurred before the World Cup Final should any of the qualified athletes win the World Cup then their quota place here will be reallocated to the next best ranked athlete. This is because the World Cup has priority over the continental championships.

Quotas by Nation

• China – 4
• South Korea – 3
• Australia – 2
• Japan – 2
• Kazakhstan – 1

References

• UIMP. Modern Pentathlon has first six qualified entries for Rio 2016. Access on June 3rd 2015.
• UIMP. Max Esposito and five athletes secure 2016 Rio Olympics spot. Access on June 3rd 2015.