Brazil: Cleared Russian fencing team arrives in Rio ahead of 2016 Olympic Games

The Russian Olympic fencing team arrived at Galeao International Airport in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, after being cleared to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Sixteen Russian fencers qualified to compete at the Olympic Games, with four additional fencers on reserve.
The Russian team's arrival follows the deliberation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive board, which had to take into account the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Person (IP) Report by Prof. Richard McLaren; the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on 21 July, concerning the rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF); as well as the Olympic Charter and the World Anti-Doping Code.
WADA had recommended a blanket ban on Russian athletes competing given the findings of the McLaren report, which detailed systemic doping of Russian athletes. However the IOC decided to leave the decision of Russian participation up to the individual sports' governing bodies. At present the athletics team are the only Russian team facing a complete ban. The fencing, archery, equestrian, judo, shooting, tennis and triathlon teams have all been approved to participate in the Olympic Games.