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.

Weightlifting: 2014/2015 World Championship Olympic Rankings Updated After Doping Removal

The International Weightlifting Federation has updated the 2014/2015 World Championship Olympic Rankings. This was done to remove athletes whom have been confirmed to have tested positive for doping. This is not the final list as the appeal process has yet to be finished plus Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia could be banned depending on the results of the retesting of 2008 and 2012 Olympic samples.

For the women’s quotas only one major change was done Belarus fell in the rankings where they lost a quota while the Ukraine has moved up to gain a quota. Overall Ukraine will now send four athletes while Belarus will only send three.

The men’s quotas are a bit complicated. Overall Thailand and Moldova have swapped places, resulting in quota changes. Thailand will now send five while Moldova would have initially sent four, but with sanctions due to doping they will now only send two. The big change was Azerbaijan completely falling out of the rankings meaning it fully loses three quotas (in addition to the one quota it already lost due to multiple doping offenses). Overall this results with France moving up from three quotas to four quotas while Japan will now send three athletes.

With Japan now qualifying through the World Olympic Rankings its results from the Asian Championship are now removed. After recalculating Saudi Arabia will now send one athlete. Likewise Azerbaijan’s results at the European Championship will now count. No changes were made. Azerbaijan, however, would have qualified an athlete through the individual rankings, but since they will lose one quota due to multiple doping offenses Azerbaijan will not send an athlete in weightlifting.

As previously said there will be an appeal process plus there is the possibility of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia from being completely banned. Also the IWF has not released the final results from the continental championships meaning there could be more changes due to the result of doping.

 

Net Quotas by Nations

• Japan – 2
• France – 1
• Saudi Arabia – 1
• Thailand – 1
• Ukraine – 1
• Belarus – -1
• Moldova – -1
• Azerbaijan – -3

 

References

• IWF. Rio 2016 Olympic Games Qualification Men’s Team Classification 2014 & 2015 IWF World Championships. Access on June 27 2016.
• IWF. Rio 2016 Olympic Games Qualification Women’s Team Classification 2014 & 2015 IWF World Championships. Access on June 27 2016.

Weightlifting: IWF Sanctions Nations, Announces Reallocation Quotas

The International Weightlifting Federation has sanctioned eight nations due to their athletes testing positive for performance enhancing drugs multiple times. Overall Azerbaijan lost one male and one female quotas, Belarus lost one male quota, Kazakhstan lost one male and one female quotas, Moldova lost two male quotas, North Korea lost one male and one female quotas, Romania lost one male quota, Russia lost one male and one female quotas and Uzbekistan lost one female quota.

Sanctions could be increased to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia for a total ban depending on the result of the investigation from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Unsurprisingly this will cause a massive change in the World Championship Rankings for Olympic quotas. Sadly the IWF has not published the change in rankings due to wanting to finalize everything. They however, published the reallocation of those quotas lost by the offending nations along with the six women’s quotas that were not allocated from the individual rankings.

The following nations were given a reallocation quota. For the men they are; Chile, Greece, Guatemala, Israel, Kenya, Nauru, Qatar and Sri Lanka. For the women they are; Argentina, Finland, Iraq, Latvia, Mauritius, Morocco, Peru, Solomon Islands, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and Uruguay.

 

Net Quotas by Nations

• Argentina – 1
• Chile – 1
• Finland – 1
• Greece – 1
• Guatemala – 1
• Iraq – 1
• Israel – 1
• Kenya – 1
• Latvia – 1
• Mauritius – 1
• Morocco – 1
• Nauru – 1
• Peru – 1
• Qatar – 1
• Solomon Islands – 1
• Sri Lanka – 1
• Sweden – 1
• United Arab Emirates – 1
• Uruguay – 1
• Belarus – -1
• Romania – -1
• Uzbekistan – -1
• Azerbaijan – -2
• Kazakhstan – -2
• Moldova – -2
• North Korea – -2
• Russia – -2

 

References

• IWF. Strong statement by the IWF Executive Board. Access on June 23 2016.
• IWF. Second day of the IWF Executive Board meeting in Tbilisi. Access on June 23 2016.

Weightlifting: Canada and Cuba Qualify in Both Genders At Pan American Championship

Canada and Cuba topped their respective team Olympic rankings at the 2016 Pan American Weightlifting Championship. The team Olympic rankings are constructed from points obtained from the top six men or top four women out of the nations which have not already qualified. The top seven men’s teams and the top four women’s teams qualify one athlete each. The Pan American Weightlifting Championship was held in Cartagena, Colombia from June 6th to June 11th 2016.

Canada was the top nation in the women’s events where they accumulated 109 points. They were followed by Puerto Rico whom finished with 103 points. Being anchored by gold medal winner Maria Valdes in the women’s -75kg Chile finished in third with 101 points while Cuba grabbed the final quota as they finished with 97 points.

One of the biggest shocks of the championship came in the men’s events where regional powerhouse Venezuela had their first three lifters fail to finish their event, leaving only five athletes left to compete. Overall Cuba topped the Olympic rankings, finishing with a total of 148 points. Ecuador finished in second with 143 points while Mexico and the United States finished equal at 141 points. Dominican Republic and Peru also qualified to the Olympics with 129 and 126 points respectively. Despite having only five remaining lifters Venezuela was still in a position to qualify going into the final event. Canada however, spoiled the unlikely achievement by doing just enough to win the final Olympic quota, finishing with a total of 118 points, just 1 point ahead of Venezuela.

This was the final continental qualifier in weightlifting. Unqualified nations can still qualify through the individual rankings where the cut-off will occur in the coming weeks. Also left to decide are the tripartite quotas.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Canada – 2
• Cuba – 2
• Chile – 1
• Dominican Republic – 1
• Ecuador – 1
• Mexico – 1
• Peru – 1
• Puerto Rico – 1
• United States – 1

 

References

• IWF. Pan American Weightlifting Championship Results. Access on June 11 2016.

Weightlifting: Oceania Nations Qualify To Olympics After Oceania Championships

Australia and Samoa topped the Olympic team rankings at the 2016 Oceania Weightlifting Championships. The six highest ranking men and the four highest ranking women from eligible nations earned points towards their nation’s ranking. The top five nations from the men’s rankings and the top four nations from the women’s rankings earned one quota place. The Oceania Weightlifting Championship was held in Suva, Fiji from May 23rd to May 28th 2016.

The women’s rankings were topped by Australia whom finished with a total of 106 points and won gold in the -48kg and -63kg. Samoa also won in two events, -75kg and +75kg as the team finished in second with 99 points. New Zealand and Fiji also qualified to the Olympics with 99 and 98 points respectively.

Samoa topped the men’s rankings over Australia as they finished with 149 points and a gold medal in the -94kg. Australia finished with 144 points and gold in the -77kg. The other teams to qualify to the Olympics were New Zealand, Kiribati and Fiji whom finished with a total of 139, 137 and 132 points respectively.

While unqualified nations can still qualify through the individual rankings currently no eligible athletes from Oceania are in a qualifying position with one more continental qualifier remaining. However, Oceania nations will definitely be favoured to win some of the tripartite quotas which will be announced at the end of the qualification process.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Australia – 2
• Fiji – 2
• New Zealand – 2
• Samoa – 2
• Kiribati – 1

 

References

• IWF. 2016 Oceanian Championships Results. Access on May 28 2016.

Weightlifting: African Nations Qualify After Continental Championship

African nations booked their spot to the Olympics with the conclusion of the 2016 African Weightlifting Championship. The six highest ranking men and the four highest ranking women from nations not yet qualified earned points towards their nation’s ranking. The top five nations in the men and the top four nations in the women in the rankings qualified one athlete to the Olympics. The African Weightlifting Championship was held in Yaounde, Cameroon from May 7th to May 13th 2016.

In the women’s events it was Nigeria which showed its strength by winning four gold medals in the -58kg, -63kg, -75kg and +75kg events to finish with a maximum total of 112 points. Tunisia followed in second place with a gold medal in the -53kg and multiple silver medals, ending with a total of 103 points. Cameroon finished in third with 94 points while Algeria rounded out the quotas in fourth place with 93 points.

Several registered athletes and even nations failed to appear in the men’s events leading to only five nations sending at least six athletes meaning should they all finish with a lift they were all guaranteed an Olympic quota. The event was topped by Algeria and Tunisia whom both finished with 159 points as they both finished on top in the list of eligible nations in three events and runner-up in three others. A strong performance by Cameroon had the team finish with 144 points while Morocco and Ghana rounded out the top five with 133 and 122 points respectively.

Unqualified nations could still potentially qualify to the Olympics through the individual world rankings through currently no one is in the top 15 for men or 10 for women in the rankings, a prerequisite for qualifying to the Olympics. Two more continental qualifiers remain with Oceania scheduled for the end of this month.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Algeria – 2
• Cameroon – 2
• Tunisia – 2
• Ghana – 1
• Morocco – 1
• Nigeria – 1

 

References

• IWF. 2016 African Weightlifting Championship – Results. Access on May 13 2016.

Weightlifting: Japan and Vietnam Top Olympic Rankings at Asian Championship

Japan and Vietnam led all nations in the team Olympic rankings at the 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championship. The team rankings are constructed by adding the points of the top 6 men or top 4 women of each nation which has yet to qualify to the Olympics. The top seven men’s teams and the top six women’s teams qualified 1 athlete each. The Asian Weightlifting Championship was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from April 22nd to April 30th 2016.

The women’s rankings was topped by Vietnam whom had four athletes finishing as the top ranked athlete from unqualified nations in their weight class thus earning the maximum of 112 points. Following Vietnam were Uzbekistan, India and Mongolia whom finished with 101, 100 and 96 points respectively. The Philippines led by Hidilyn Diaz in the -53kg event finished safely in fifth with a total of 91 points. The final spot came down to Turkmenistan and United Arab Emirates. Going into the final two events Turkmenistan’s Aysoltan Toychyyeva did enough in the -75kg to place her in the lead at 83 points. However, with two United Arab Emirates lifters in the +75kg Turkmenistan had to hope none of the expected competitors ranked above them fail to lift a weight. In the end everyone was able to lift a weight meaning United Arab Emirates narrowly missed out in finishing in the top six as they finished with 81 points.

The men’s ranking was topped by Japan whom sent a very strong team to finish with a total of 145 points. The team podium was filled with Iraq and Malaysia whom finished with a total of 142 and 137 points respectively. As each event went through it became apparent that five nations will be fighting for four spots. Disaster struck for Saudi Arabia in the -94kg event where won of their lifters failed to lift a weight. This was also their final athlete meaning at 121 points Saudi Arabia would have to sit and watch the final two events and hope a nation either underperforms or fails to lift a weight altogether. This did not happened meaning Saudi Arabia finished in eighth. The nations which did qualified were Kyrgyzstan (132 points), Syria (129 points), India (129 points) and Turkmenistan (125 points).

Note that these results are not final until all samples are tested for doping. Asian athletes will have only one more opportunity to qualify, through the world rankings. The three remaining continents will have their qualifiers over the next six weeks.

 

Quotas by Nations

• India – 2
• Turkmenistan – 2
• Iraq – 1
• Japan – 1
• Kyrgyzstan – 1
• Malaysia – 1
• Mongolia – 1
• Philippines – 1
• Syria – 1
• Uzbekistan – 1
• Vietnam – 1

 

References

IWF. 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championship – Results. Access on April 30 2016.

Weightlifting: European Championship Gives Quotas to 11 Nations

Turkey and Great Britain led all nations in the men’s and women’s Olympic rankings at the 2016 European Weightlifting Championships. The team rankings are constructed from points obtained from the top six men or top four women out of the nations which have not already qualified. The top seven men’s teams and the top six women’s teams qualify one athlete each. The European Weightlifting Championship was held in Forde, Norway from April 8th to April 16th 2016.

The women’s rankings were led by Great Britain with a total of 101 points with results from Rebekah Tiler (-69kg), Mercy Brown (+75kg), Zoe Smith (-63kg) and Emily Godley (-63kg). Also qualifying were Italy (98 points), France (95 points), Poland (95 points), Germany (89 points) and Spain (85 points). The nations missing the cut-off were Finland and Sweden whom both finished with 79 points. Despite winning the gold medal in the -58kg Boyanka Kostova’s Azerbaijan team was not strong enough to book a spot to the Olympics as the team finished with 74 points.

The men’s rankings were led by Turkey whose gold medals from Hursit Atak (-62kg) and Daniyar Ismayilov (-69kg) gave the team a total of 156 points. Also qualifying were Italy (139 points), Czech Republic (127 points), Hungary (120 points), Great Britain (118 points), Finland (113 points) and Slovakia (113 points). Lithuania came very close to qualifying, finishing with 110 points despite only sending 5 athletes to compete. Greece also finished just outside of Olympic qualifying with 109 points.

As with all weightlifting events the rankings are not finalized until all of the doping samples have been processed and cleared. Individual athletes from nations not yet qualified will be able to still qualify to the Olympics through the world rankings, published at the end of the qualifying period.

 

Quotas by Nations

• Great Britain – 2
• Italy – 2
• Czech Republic – 1
• Finland – 1
• France – 1
• Germany – 1
• Hungary – 1
• Poland – 1
• Slovakia – 1
• Spain – 1
• Turkey – 1

 

References

• EWF. 2016 Olympic European Team Classification – Men’s Results. Access on April 16 2016.
• EWF. 2016 Olympic European Team Classification – Women’s Results. Access on April 16 2016.

Weightlifting: After Delay, 31 Nations Qualify After 2014&2015 World Championships

In total, 31 nations qualified athletes to the Olympics based on the Weightlifting Olympic Qualification Rankings. The weightlifting quotas were decided by a ranking system based on the results of the 2014 and 2015 World Championships. The top 25 eligible athletes from each weight class are given points for their nations. Only the top 6 men and top 4 women from each nation are counted towards the rankings. The men ranked 1st-6th will be given 6 athlete quotas, 7th-12th will be given 5, 13th-18th will be given 4 and 19th-24th will be given 3. For the women 1st-9th will be given 4 athlete quotas, 10th-16th will be given 3 and 17th-21st will be given 2. The 2014 World Weightlifting Championship was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan from November 8th to November 16th 2014 while the 2015 World Weightlifting Championship was held in Houston, United States from November 20th to November 28th 2015.

In the men’s events in the 2014 world championship were dominated by Asian nations as they were able to win gold in seven out of the eight events. Only Ruslan Albegov of Russia was able to go against the trend with a gold medal in the +105kg category. China, Kazakhstan and North Korea won two gold medals a piece with Liao Hui of China setting a world record in the -69kg category. The other gold medal went to Kianoush Rostami of Iran in the -85kg. The rankings by the end of the competition had China, North Korea and Kazakhstan holding the top three positions.

The women’s events at the 2014 world championships were similarly dominated by Asian nations with China winning three gold medals. Like with the men Russia was the only non-Asian gold medalist as they won two gold medals and set a new world record in +75kg event by Tatiana Kashirina. The other two events were won by Kazakhstan in the -53kg and North Korea in -69kg. The rankings by the end of the competition had China, Russia and Kazakhstan holding the top three positions.

Between the 2014 and 2015 world championships Bulgaria was banned by the International Weightlifting Federation for repeat drug offenses meaning they were stripped of all their points earned at the 2014 world championships. In the same vein Romania was sanctioned where they would lose one quota spot should they qualify. This caused a delay of the release of the combined results for about a week as the International Weightlifting Federation had to recalculate the scores.

China, Kazakhstan and Russia led all nations in the men’s events as they won gold in two of the overall events. Their performance was capped by world records by China’s Chen Lijun and Russia’s Aleksey Lovchev in the -62kg and +105kg events respectively. North Korea’s Om Yun-Chol retained his world title in the -56kg while the final gold medal went to Belarus’ Vadzim Straltsou in the -94kg. The 2015 rankings were led by Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus as China and North Korea finished a bit lower due to failed lifts by some of their athletes.

China continued to be the powerhouse in the women’s events as they won gold in 4 out of the 7 overall events. Azerbaijan’s Boyanka Kostova set a world record in the -58kg event. The other gold medals went to Hsu Shu-Ching of Chinese Taipei in the -53kg while Tatiana Kashirna of Russia retained her crown in the +75kg event. The 2015 rankings were led by China, Russia and North Korea.

For the most part the combined rankings gave the expected nations the expected quotas. One of the bigger surprises was that Iran failed to get 6 men’s quotas, mostly due to their poor performance in the 2015 championship. After only sending three athletes in 2014 and receiving relatively few points Azerbaijan’s 2015 performance gave it enough points to send a team of four males. On the women’s side there was heartbreak for France and Spain as a poor 2015 championship placed them on the outside of the quotas where before it was thought they would easily qualify.

The rankings aren’t completely set in stone as the results need to be confirmed by the drug testing results. Nations not qualifying any quotas will get another opportunity at the continental qualifiers where they will compete to gain a single quota per gender.

 

Men Rankings by Nation

1. Russia – 6
2. Kazakhstan – 6
3. North Korea – 6
4. Belarus – 6
5. China – 6
6. Egypt – 6
7. Indonesia – 5
8. Armenia – 5
9. Colombia – 5
10. Uzbekistan – 5
11. Moldova – 5
12. Iran – 5
13. Thailand – 4
14. Poland – 4
15. Germany – 4
16. Azerbaijan – 4
17. Ukraine – 4
18. South Korea – 4
19. France – 3
20. Vietnam – 3
21. Georgia – 3
22. Romania – 3*
23. Spain – 3
24. Chinese Taipei – 3

 

Women Rankings by Nation

1. China – 4
2. Russia – 4
3. North Korea – 4
4. Kazakhstan – 4
5. Thailand – 4
6. Chinese Taipei – 4
7. Colombia – 4
8. Belarus – 4
9. Japan – 4
10. Ukraine – 3
11. South Korea – 3
12. Egypt – 3
13. Venezuela – 3
14. United States – 3
15. Mexico – 3
16. Turkey – 3
17. Dominican Republic – 2
18. Ecuador – 2
19. Armenia – 2
20. Indonesia – 2
21. Romania – 2*

 

* Romania will have a reduction of one quota

 

References

• IWF. Weightlifting Olympic Men Qualification Ranking List. Access on December 5 2015.
• IWF. Weightlifting Olympic Women Qualification Ranking List. Access on December 5 2015.