"The application of our team was thoroughly scrutinized, you know all criteria. We applied for 29 out of 34 sports with four sports envisaging no qualification, so our team includes 266 athletes for today. It is a very strong team," Mutko told journalists.
In 2015, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Independent Commission issued a report accusing Russia of numerous breaches of global anti-doping regulations, which led to All-Russia Athletics Federation’s suspension from the International Association of Athletics Federation.
On Sunday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced its decision to ban all Russian athletes with a record of doping violations from participating in 2016 Rio Olympic Games, while leaving it to the respective international federations to decide whether individual Russian athletes should be allowed to compete at the games.
