Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Russian Track and Field Athletes Banned from Rio Olympics Russia's track and field team has been banned from the summer Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro. The global body that governs track and field competition - the IAAF - announced Friday that it is continuing a ban on the Russian track athletes. The IAAF said that Russia has not done enough to restore confidence in its athletes in the wake of a doping scandal. Russian track and field athletes have been barred from international competition for the past seven months after a report by the World Anti-Doping Agency accused Russia of a government-run doping program. The Russian Ministry of Sport expressed its disappointment in a statement: "Clean athletes' dreams are being destroyed because of the reprehensible behavior of other athletes and officials. They have sacrificed years of their lives striving to compete at the Olympics and now that sacrifice looks likely to be wasted." The ministry said it had done "everything possible" since the ban to regain the world's trust. The International Olympic Committee is expected to discuss the decision on Tuesday. __________________________________________________________________ [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/russian-ban-olympics/3380830.html References 1. http://www.voanews.com/content/russian-ban-olympics/3380830.html