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Russians proved in Rio they need no doping to win - Russian Olympic chief

With many start athletes disqualified from the 2016 Games, Russia won 56 medals (19 gold, 18 silver and 19 bronze)

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. The convincing performance of Russian athletes at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio-de-Janeiro proved that they require no banned chemicals to win, the president of the Russian Olympic Committee said Tuesday.

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"The outgoing year was very difficult for us. Constant doping scandals broke out, especially the one before the Rio Olympics, when there were calls to bar the entire team Russia from the games. As a result, all our track-and-field and weightlifting athletes did not take part in the Olympics. However, our athletes performed brilliantly in Rio and proved that our successes do not depend on any ‘magical cocktails,’ made up by certain schemers," Alexander Zhukov said in a Rossiya-24 TV broadcast.

With many start athletes disqualified from the 2016 Games, Russian athletes won 56 medals (19 gold, 18 silver and 19 bronze) and lost only to the United States, the United Kingdom and China in the unofficial overall medal count. A total of 107 out of 280 Russian athletes won various medals in Rio.

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