Rio 2016

With Russia gripped by accusations of doping, former Arsenal midfielder Andrey Arshavin has suggested all athletes competing in certain Olympic sports take performance-enhancing drugs.

In an interview apparently conducted by a Kazakh sports news site, the outspoken Arshavin was quoted as saying that athletic success in “cyclic sports”, those which require constant repetitive movement, was “simply impossible without doping”.

Arshavin’s comments come amid the ongoing scandal in Russia that has seen some of the country’s athletes banned from the Olympic games, following accusations of state-sponsored doping.

He also claims that politics played a role in the decision to bar the country from competing in some disciplines in Rio.

“In my opinion, all cyclic sports are doping. It’s simply impossible without doping. That means swimming, skiing, cycling. I think everyone dopes,” he told prosportkz.kz.

“Russia is paying for its political decisions, including in sport. Is it fair or unfair? Life isn’t fair. Of course, this is a great tragedy for the athletes, especially the Olympians.

“For them, this is the World Cup and European Championship for footballers. We have every two years, with good players, earning good money at clubs, and they have the reverse.

“[They have] almost one or two chances in life to get an apartment, a normal premium…Of course I understand them, they are not in the best condition now.”

Russian officials have consistently denied any state involvement in doping cover-ups and strenuously refute the findings of the McLaren Report, which claimed that the Russian secret service and sports ministry colluded to manipulate samples at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Russian athletes escaped a blanket ban from the Rio games, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowing individual sports federations to determine who should be eligible to compete. Meanwhile, Russian authorities are currently contesting a similar ban for the Paralympic Games.

However, while claiming that some sports are riddled with widespread doping, Arshavin – who as well as Arsenal and the Russian national team also played for Zenit, and currently plies his trade with Kairat Almaty in Kazakhstan – insists that in team sports things are different.

“[There is doping] in football and hockey – to a lesser extent. In football, you cannot predict. In team sports, there’s very little doping,” he added.

Lightweight Robson Conceicao became Brazil’s first ever Olympic boxing champion when he was given a unanimous points decision in his final against Frenchman Sofiane Oumiha.

Conceicao took the host nation’s tally of gold medals to three in Rio after he was given the verdict 30-27 29-28 29-28 in a 60kg showdown at an electric Riocentre on Tuesday.

The Salvador-born 27-year-old’s success gave Brazil a second successive night to remember after Thiago Braz da Silva claimed a sensational victory in the pole vault.

Usain Bolt’s bid for a ‘triple-triple’ is a step closer after he breezed into Thursday’s 200 metre final.

Just three days after defending his 100m title in scintillating fashion – Bolt had time to grin for the cameras as he dominated the field – the Jamaican sprint king was at it again inside the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.

And once again he had a smile on his face.

He won the second semi final in 19.78 seconds, ahead of Canadian Andre De Grasse (19.80secs) – who chose to try and run him down on the line.

The two shared a joke as they crossed the line, with Bolt quipping: “He [De Grasse] was supposed to slow down. I said ‘what are you doing, it’s a semi final’.

“That was really unnecessary. I don’t know what he was trying to do but he’s a young kid, he’s great.

“I think he wanted to push me. I was a bit lazy but I got round.”

Bolt – who alongside the rest of the Jamaican quartet will also bid to defend the 4x100m relay title – said after his 100m triumph he was chasing the chance to be “immortal”, and few would bet against that on current form.

He was already into his stride by the first 50 metres and, although he eased down significantly as he came down the straight, even that was not enough to allow De Grasse to overtake him.

The one man who had looked a slim possibility to deny him his chance of history was Justin Gatlin, but he failed to even make the final.

The American – twice banned from the sport for doping – won the 100m silver behind Bolt on Sunday but could only finish third in his semi in a time of 20.13secs after was beaten on the line by Panama’s Alonso Edward (20.07secs) and Churandy Martina of Netherlands (20.10secs).

A glance to the side appeared to cost Gatlin his place in the top two as he lost focus, but he blamed a niggling ankle injury for missing out.

“I’m happy to still be here [for the relays]. My ankle is giving me a lot of problems. I can’t run properly and I had a tight turn in lane three,” he said after the race.

Bolt, meanwhile, was not as shocked as many by Gatlin’s early exit.

“I wasn’t truly surprised, I thought he actually made it but I could tell from the 100m he was slowing down,” the Jamaican added.

Former world 100m champion – and Bolt’s team-mate – Yohan Blake was also run out of it into sixth.

American LaShawn Merritt qualified third fastest in 19.94secs, ahead of Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre in a season’s best 20.01secs.

Mireia Belmonte has described Rafael Nadal as her role model after both won gold at Rio 2016.

Spaniard Belmonte added to her two silver medals from London 2012 by taking gold in 200m butterfly as well as bronze in the 400m individual medley.

Her compatriot Nadal triumphed in men’s doubles, the 14-time grand slam champion claiming gold alongside Marc Lopez, although he suffered defeat at the hands of Kei Nishikori in the bronze medal match of the men’s singles.

Belmonte, speaking courtesy of Speedo, told Omnisport: “Nadal and myself congratulated each other when we won our medals. He has been a reference within the Spanish sport.

“He is a fighter. For us it has been very important to be that close to him, as he speaks with everyone. For me he is a very good person and he is my role model.”

Asked about her emotions following her success in the pool in Rio, Belmonte added: “The feelings are indescribable. There are plenty of things that come to your mind in this very second.

“It’s like living a dream, but very fast. Everything comes very fast. Two minutes before you weren’t an Olympic medallist and two minutes after suddenly you are, so to assimilate it is difficult.”

Lasha Talakhadze set a new world record for total combined weight lifted in the men’s over 105kg competition to claim gold at Rio 2016.

The 22-year-old Georgian, gold medallist in the same category at the World Weightlifting Championships in 2015, secured victory by a comfortable margin with a combined total lift of 473kg.

He lifted 215kg in the snatch and backed up that effort with a stunning lift of 258kg in the clean and jerk.

His closest challenger, Armenia’s Gor Minasyan, totalled 451kg, with Irakli Turmanidze (448kg) taking bronze for Georgia.

Iran’s Behdad Salimi Kordasiabi also set a new world record in the snatch, lifting 216kg to take the lead. However, the 26-year-old fell out of medal contention as he failed three times at 245kg in the clean and jerk.

Russia have been stripped of the 4×100 metre relay title they won at Beijing 2008 after a re-analysis of Yulia Chermoshanskaya’s stored samples resulted in a positive test for banned substances.

Chermoshanskaya competed in the 200m and the relay in Beijing, helping Russia to gold in the latter event, but has now been retroactively disqualified from both races.

The re-analysis of Chermoshanskaya’s samples saw her test positive for anabolic steroids stanozolol and dehydrochlormethyltestosterone.

As a consequence, the 30-year-old and team-mates Yuliya Gushchina, Aleksandra Fedoriva and Yevgeniya Polyakova have all been disqualified and ordered to return their medals from the relay victory.

Furious boxer Michael Conlan vowed never to compete in the Olympic Games again after a controversial points defeat ended his hopes of claiming a medal at Rio 2016.

Irish bantamweight Conlan, a bronze medallist at London 2012, lost by unanimous decision to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin on Tuesday, despite feeling he had done more than enough to win.

Conlan told the BBC: “I came for gold and I’ve been cheated.

“I’ll not do another Olympics. I would advise anybody not to compete for the AIBA [Amateur International Boxing Association].”

In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTE, Conlan was heavily critical of AIBA, alleging corruption within the body as he stated: “Amateur boxing stinks, from the core right to the top.”

The 24-year-old went on to send a tweet to the official account of Russian president Vladimir Putin, which read: “Hey Vlad @PutinRF_Eng How much did they charge you bro?? @AIBA_Boxing #Rio2016.”

An AIBA official was quoted by the Telegraph as describing Conlan’s allegations as “foundless”.

The official said: “Michael is a current world champion and he came here with high expectations. His disappointment is massive, we can all understand that. It’s his personal judgment.

“AIBA is striving for a fair, level-playing field. The idea is not to benefit one country towards another. These statements are foundless but he’s free to have his opinion.”