Rio de Janeiro: Russian cyclist Olga Zabelinskaya, (click here) who has taken the silver medal in the women's road cycling time trial at the Rio Games after an 11th-hour reprieve due to a prior 18-month doping ban, insists she has always been clean.
Initially facing a ban from these Games, Zabelinskaya was free to race on Wednesday after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on August 4 said competitors with history of doping suspensions should not be excluded.
American Kristin Armstrong, meanwhile, notched a most extraordinary gold medal feat: her third consecutive Olympic title achieved the day before she turns 43.
Attention was split between controversial Zabelinskaya, for whom British entrant Emma Pooley expressed disdain in the countdown to the race, and fairy tale Armstrong who said afterwards she felt entirely amicable with her closest challenger on the day....
Attention was split between controversial Zabelinskaya, for whom British entrant Emma Pooley expressed disdain in the countdown to the race, and fairy tale Armstrong who said afterwards she felt entirely amicable with her closest challenger on the day....
