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After a rough month of July for the Russian Olympic athletes it looks like there is a bright like for them as the IOC(International Olympic Committee) has just announced that it will clear 271 Russian athletes to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

This news comes after Russian President Putin claimed that Russian athletes were unfairly targeted in a sting by the World Anti-Doping Agency banning the Russian Olympic track and field team and several other athletes from the Rio Olympics for using banned enhancement drugs.

In the press release from the IOC, the 271 athletes represent 70% of the total Russian athletes(387) that were to compete in the Summer Olympics.

WADA had suggested after their initial findings to ban all of Russian Olympic athletes. However, after a review from a three-person IOC panel, they decided to go with the decisions made by the international federations that govern each sport.

The final decision according to IOC President, Thomas Bach is a “very thorough, strict and clear procedure, and you will see then the results of the individual analysis and on the application of justice in order to ensure fair competition at the Olympic Games”.

Following up on the Russian track and field team who had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports, the decision stands.  After going over 18 cases appealing the decision by the IOC over this case, the CAS decided to stay with the decision from the IAAF which means that all of the athletes from the Russians’ Track and Field team are banned from the Rio Olympics except for one member.

Darya Klishina, a long jumper who actually lives in Florida and also trains from there was granted exceptional eligibility by the IAAF.

Some online sportsbooks even had proposition bets about whether the entire Russian Olympic team would be banned or not from the Rio Olympics.  In the end, the next prop bet will be on whether Rio will have all of the Olympic facilities ready on time for tomorrow’s opening ceremony in Maracana Stadium at 7PM.  For those in the United States, NBC will air the Opening Ceremony but with a one hour delay which had already started a buzz about this decision.

If you are interested in betting on the Olympics, we suggest using one of our top sportsbooks that will give you the best deal and odds for your money.