MOSCOW -- At least 105 athletes from the 387-strong Russian Olympic team announced last week have been barred from the Rio Games in connection with the country's doping scandal.
International federations in canoeing, sailing and modern pentathlon ruled out eight Tuesday, including an Olympic gold medalist. Rowing added 19 more athletes to three that previously had been announced. Swimming also has barred some athletes. Some appeals are likely.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media that Putin had discussed the doping issue with his national security council.
"The topic of the recent International Olympic Committee ruling relating to Russian athletes was raised ahead of Putin's planned meeting tomorrow with the Russian Olympic team," Peskov said.
The vast majority of the Russian athletes who miss out are in track and field, where 67 athletes were ruled out when a ban on the Russian team was upheld at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week.
More are falling foul of new rules imposed after the country's doping scandal came to light.
While Russia avoided a blanket ban from the IOC, it has lost several medal contenders to new IOC rules imposed Sunday banning Russia from entering athletes who previously doped.
Alexander Dyachenko, an Olympic champion in 2012, was among five canoeists ruled out after being named in a recent report by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren alleging a state-sponsored doping cover-up.
McLaren's report last week specifically detailed how Russian state officials allegedly intervened to cover up hundreds of failed drug tests.
The four other banned canoeists are Alexei Korovashkov -- a 2012 bronze medalist in the C2 1,000 meters -- Andrei Kraitor, Elena Anyushina and Nataliya Podolskaya.
Meanwhile, the International Modern Pentathlon Union named the two Russians it had suspended as Maxim Kustov and Ilya Frolov, saying they were both featured in the McLaren report. Kustov's place in the men's event passes to a Latvian athlete, while Frolov had been entered for Rio as a reserve.
Legal challenges are looming.
The agent for Yulia Efimova, the reigning world 100-meter breaststroke champion, has said he is preparing an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the Russian Canoe Federation's general secretary Irina Sirayeva said that the five banned athletes could follow suit.
"The intention to defend the athletes is there," she told R-Sport.
Lists of Russian athletes approved by international federations must still be approved by CAS arbiters who can reject athletes not tested outside Russia.
The IOC refused to accept testing done by Russian agencies because of evidence that the process was corrupted.
Sports on 07/27/2016