Yelena Isinbayeva loses Rio appeal with Russian weightlifters also banned
By Dev Trehan
Last Updated: 29/07/16 7:42pm
Russia's best-known track and field athlete, Yelena Isinbayeva, has failed in a last-ditch attempt to compete at the Rio Olympics.
The two-time Olympic pole vault champion vowed to fight the IAAF's decision last month not to lift a blanket ban on Russian track and field athletes due to state sponsored doping and corruption.
The 34-year-old described it at the time as a violation of human rights but revealed on social media on Friday that her latest application for an individual exemption was refused by the IAAF.
"Unfortunately, they didn't make an exception for me," Isinbayeva wrote on Instagram.
"They didn't admit me for the Olympics in Rio. The miracle didn't happen."
Russia's weightlifting team has also been barred from Rio, the sport's governing federation confirmed on Friday evening.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) said some of the Russian competitors had been named in a report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
"The integrity of the weightlifting sport has been seriously damaged on multiple times and levels by the Russians," the IWF said in a statement. "Therefore an appropriate sanction was applied in order to preserve the status of the sport."
Meanwhile, Russia have said they will launch a legal bid to reinstate 19 of the country's rowers who were banned from Rio because of insufficient drug testing.
Russian Rowing Federation head Veniamin But has confirmed he plans to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport next week to try to overturn the ruling from World Rowing. The 19 were excluded because World Rowing said they had not been tested often enough by reliable international authorities.
But Russia says most of its Olympic team will take part in Rio, with sports minister Vitaly Mutko telling local media on Friday that 272 of the country's athletes have received approval from their individual sports federations to compete. Russia had originally planned to send a 387-strong team,
