Russia organizes its own tournament for banned Olympic athletes

Russia is saying "your loss" to the International Olympic Committee by hosting its own tournament in Moscow for athletes banned from competing in track and field at this summer's Rio Olympics. "About 135 track and field athletes are going to compete. They include Olympic champions and medal-holders as well as less renowned athletes forbidden to compete in Rio," Yuri Borzakovsky, the head coach of the Russian athletics squad, told Russia's TASS news agency.

Athletes will include "Sergei Shubenkov, incumbent world champion in the 110-meter race; high jumpers Maria Kuchina, Olympic Champion Ivan Ukhov, and Daniil Tsyplakov; javelin throwers Dmitry Tarabin and Vera Rebrik; [and] triple jumper Yekaterina Koneva," TASS reported.

Russia's track and field competitors were banned after a state-sponsored doping scandal came to light. Calls for a complete ban on Russian athletes were eventually rejected despite evidence Russian officials tampered with urine samples at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

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