Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva says she will appeal the ban on Russian athletes.
The International Paralympic Committee's move to ban all Russian athletes from participating in the Rio Games is an unfair and unjust decision based on a completely biased and politically motivated McLaren report, independent writer Rick Sterling told RT.
RT: What's your reaction to the blanket ban?
Rick Sterling: I thought it was a horrendous decision, completely unfair and unjust. I've written a fairly detailed critique of the McLaren report which led to the abandoning of all track and field athletes, and now even the Paralympic athletes.
It is a terribly unfair decision based on a completely biased McLaren report.RT: Why do you think his report was biased?
RS: There were a couple of points where he was
inaccurate or not very truthful writing what he said there. He said that the Russians did not seem interested in talking and yet in his own report he says: "I've also received unsolicited and extensive narrative with attachments from one important government representative described in this report." And then he goes on, "it was simply not practical to look at that or interview the Russians." So it is a
completely one-sided report where he basically relied on one witness who was the chief culprit, Grigory Rodchenkov, who now, of course, is in the US.Another inaccuracy that I would like to point out is that
McLaren is now saying the goal was never to identify specific individuals. That is not correct. His specific mandate was "to identify any athlete that might have benefited from those alleged manipulations to conceal positive doping tests." So this is one of the big travesties here that McLaren had the mandate to investigate this, find out who is guilty, and do some appropriate punishment. Instead, he's
cast suspicion on the entire Russian Olympic team and now the Paralympic team, instead of doing what he was supposed to do.
Comment: The words that come out of this man's mouth are really beyond belief!