Doping whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova asks IOC to review her Rio ban

Russian 800 metres runner and doping whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova has asked the International Olympic Committee to review its decision to ban her from competing at the Rio Games.

The IOC revealed on Sunday that its ethics board had declared Stepanova ineligible for Rio because all Russians who have served drugs bans in the past have been barred from next month's Games.

It also said the 30-year-old, who was forced to flee Russia in 2014 for speaking out against the country's state-run doping programme, could not compete as a "neutral athlete" as that was against Olympic rules.

But in a letter to the IOC's director general Christophe de Kepper, Stepanova and her husband Vitaly Stepanov, a former anti-doping expert who also revealed Russia's doping secrets, have restated her request to be allowed to run.

This request has already been supported by athletics' world governing body the IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The IOC says Yuliya Stepanova can't compete at #rio2016. Today's overall decision will anger, confuse etc many pic.twitter.com/4xSquwEVVG

— Steph Jenzer (@StephJenzer) July 24, 2016