The Latest: Isinbayeva welcomes Rio ban on Stepanova

The Latest: Isinbayeva welcomes Rio ban on Stepanova By The Associated Press LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - The Latest from the IOC meeting on Russia's participation at the Rio Games (all times local):7:05 p.m.Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva has welcomed the International Olympic Committee's decision to bar a renowned Russian doping whistleblower from competing at the games.The IOC said 800-meter Yulia Stepanova, who along with her husband provided evidence of widespread doping in Russian track and field, could not race in Rio because she once served a doping ban.Isinbayeva, who herself has been prevented from going to Rio as part of a blanket ban on the Russian track team, tells Russia's R-Sport agency that "at least one wise decision on track and field has been taken" in Stepanova's case.Isinbayeva also called for Stepanova to be "banned for life."Stepanova and her husband left Russia in 2014 citing fears for their safety and have been branded traitors by many Russian fans and officials.___6:45 p.m.Before the IOC made its ruling, Russia's top Olympic official had warned the International Olympic Committee that its members would be bowing to "geopolitical pressure" if they banned Russia from next month's games in Rio de Janeiro.In the text of Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov's speech to the board, he compares a blanket ban on all Russian athletes to catching a criminal and then placing "his family, friends and acquaintances behind bars just because they knew the criminal or they live in the same town."Calls to ban the entire Russian team went "beyond the bounds of sport," Zhukov said, adding "I call on you not to become hostages of geopolitical pressure."___6:10 p.m.Russian Olympic Committee head Alexander Zhukov says it will not appeal against an IOC rule to bar Russian athletes who previously served doping bans from competing at the Rio de Janeiro Games.Zhukov, who attended Sunday's telephone conference of the IOC executive board, says he does not agree with the rule agreed just 12 days before the opening ceremony.Still, he says "we don't have time enough to do such a thing" like appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.A previous CAS verdict suggests the IOC rule could be overturned.In 2011, a CAS panel declared invalid the IOC's so-called "Osaka Rule," which sought to bar athletes from the next Olympic Games if they served a ban for doping of at least six months.Zhukov does not rule out any Russian athlete filing an urgent appeal as an individual because "all of them can go to CAS."___6:05 p.m.Russia is likely to be without some of its top athletes at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro thanks to an International Olympic Committee rule prohibiting former dopers from competing.While rejecting a blanket ban on the Russian team, the IOC said Russia cannot send any athlete "who has ever been sanctioned for doping, even if he or she has served the sanction."That appears to rule out swimmer Yulia Efimova, the world champion in the 100-meter breaststroke, 2012 Olympic silver medal-winning weightlifter Tatyana Kashirina and two-time Olympic bronze medal-winning cyclist Olga Zabelinskaya.All three have previously served a doping ban.___5:45 p.m.The leader of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency says the IOC refused to take decisive leadership by stopping short of a complete Russian ban at the Olympics.Travis Tygart says the decision and the confusing mess left in its wake is a significant blow to the rights of clean athletes.Tygart also called the decision to refuse Yulia Stepanova entry into the games "incomprehensible" - and a move that will undoubtedly deter whistleblowers in the future from coming forward.___5:20 p.m.IOC President Thomas Bach has defended the decision not to ban all Russians from the Olympics by insisting clean athletes should not be punished.Bach says "an athlete should not suffer and should not be sanctioned for a system in which he was not implicated."The International Olympic Committee is leaving it up to international sports federations to decide which Russian athletes can compete in Rio de Janeiro next month.Bach accepted that the decision "might not please everybody."But speaking on a media call, Bach added that "this is not about expectations - this is about doing justice to clean athletes all over the world."___5 p.m.The Russian Sports Minister says that "the majority" of Russia's team complies with International Olympic Committee criteria on doping and will

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