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LONDON (AP) — The Latest on the Rio Games (all times local to Rio de Janeiro):
11:00 p.m.
Usain Bolt has touched down in Rio de Janeiro, ready to fine-tune his preparations for another bid at an Olympic double in the 100- and 200-meter sprints.
The 29-year-old Jamaican has won six Olympic gold medals — the 100, 200 and sprint relays at Beijing in 2008 and at London in 2012 — and is the undisputed star of track and field.
The official website of the Rio Games noted Bolt's arrival on a flight from London with the headline: "The main man has landed."
The Olympics formally begin with the opening ceremony on Aug. 5, and the track program starts Aug. 12. Bolt is set to open his program in preliminaries of the 100 on Aug. 13.
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5:42 p.m.
When the New England Patriots reported for training camp on Wednesday, Nate Ebner wasn't with them.
The special teams player has taken a leave of absence to play for the U.S. Olympic rugby team.
"It's a great opportunity for him to follow his passion, participate in the Olympic Games," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "We're pulling for him to bring back something around his neck."
Ebner played rugby but not football in his first two years at Ohio State before walking onto the football team as a junior. He was selected by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2012 draft and has appeared in 57 NFL games, mostly on special teams.
Patriots special teams captain Matthew Slater noted that Ebner's father was a college rugby player. Jeff Ebner was murdered during an attempted robbery in 2008.
"That connection with father and son is bigger than sport itself," Slater said. "I know this means a great deal to him and we're all excited for him."
Slater said he's in the market for an Ebner rugby jersey.
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5 p.m.
The IOC's new Olympic Channel will be launched next month following the closing ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Games.
The International Olympic Committee says the digital channel will go live on Sunday, Aug. 21.
The channel, which will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, is designed to promote Olympics sports between each games and engage with young audiences. It will provide a mix of live sports coverage, historic Olympic footage from the IOC's archives, news programming and a platform for Olympic bid cities.
The project, the brainchild of IOC President Thomas Bach, was approved by the full IOC in December 2014.
The channel will be available via a mobile app and at olympicchannel.com.
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4:45 p.m.
The International Table Tennis Federation has cleared the three Russian table tennis players who qualified for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics to compete.
In a news release issued on Wednesday, the ITTF said its investigation included individual tests outside the Russian anti-doping system. Also, the ITTF said the World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed none of the qualified players were implicated in the McLaren report.
The table tennis players are Alexander Shibaev, Polina Mikhailova and Maria Dolgikh.
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2:30 p.m.
The International Weightlifting Federation says 11 more weightlifters, including six silver and bronze medalists, have tested positive in retests of samples from the 2012 London Olympics.
The IWF said Wednesday in a statement that all 11 athletes, who include four Russians, have been provisionally suspended until their cases are closed.
So far, weightlifters have produced a total of 31 positives in doping retests carried out on samples taken at the 2008 Games in Beijing and the London Games.
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1:30 p.m.
Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff says she'll skip the opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games on Aug. 5.
In a series of messages on Twitter, Rousseff says she'll miss the event at which she was once expected to have a leading role.
Acting President Michel Temer is expected at the Maracana stadium to open the games.
Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also says he'll attend. He was in office when Rio won the bid in 2009.
Rousseff's impeachment trial is expected to conclude in the Senate following the end of the games.
The suspended president is accused of breaking fiscal laws, which she denies.
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11:40 a.m.
In an innovative move that may not please purists of taekwondo, the sport's governing body will allow competitors to wear color on their uniforms at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Aside from their protective gear, fighters typically wear an all-white uniform. But the governing body has unveiled designs of 20 national Olympic committee's trousers, featuring national flags and colors.
The federation expects more national committees to submit their proposed designs.
Committees are allowed to pick one color, in addition to white, for competitors to wear.
The idea comes from the governing body's technical committee, which is attempting to find ways for the traditional Korean martial art to evolve and modernize — hoping the move might help fans more easily identify athletes.
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9:50 a.m.
Fighting back tears, two-time Olympic champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva tells Russian athletes going to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics to defend the country's honor.
Isinbayeva spoke at a Russian Olympic team send-off ceremony at the Kremlin on Wednesday, saying that she and other athletes were banned from going to Rio "in a rude manner and without giving us a chance to defend ourselves."
The Court of Arbitration for Sport last week rejected the appeal by Russian track and field athletes against the ban imposed by the IAAF following allegations of state-sponsored doping and cover-ups.
Isinbayeva and other track and field athletes attended the ceremony despite the fact that they are not going to Rio.
She told those going to Rio to "show them what you're able to do — for yourself and for us too."
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9:30 a.m.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Russian track and field athletes are victims of "discrimination" that the country is "not going to put up with."
Putin was addressing athletes at the Kremlin before the Russian Olympic team was due to fly out to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Thursday, while dozens of the track and field athletes who are not eligible to compete in the Rio Games also attended.
Those barred from competing, Putin says, are victims of "double standards" and a campaign against Russian sports.
Two-time Olympic champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and European hurdles champion Sergei Shubenkov were among those in attendance not eligible for Rio.
Continuing his address, Putin told his audience "your colleagues from other sports powers realize that the value of their medals will be different," because "this victory will have a different taste - or no taste at all."
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8:35 a.m.
The depleted Russian Olympic team, including some track and field athletes barred from competing, is taking part in a send-off ceremony in Moscow before flying out to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Thursday.
The traditional ceremony, which includes a prayer at a Moscow Kremlin cathedral, began with the laying of wreaths at World War II's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Kremlin wall.
Dressed in national uniform, the athletes walked across Red Square to meet President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.
Two-time Olympic champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and European hurdles champion Sergei Shubenkov were spotted on Red Square mingling with the team — despite the fact that they are not going to Rio.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport last week rejected the appeal by Russian track and field athletes against the ban imposed by the IAAF following allegations of state-sponsored doping and cover-ups.
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8:20 a.m.
The IAAF has rebuffed Russia's latest bid to overturn the ban on most of its track and field team competing at the Olympics.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport last week rejected the appeal by Russian track and field athletes against the ban imposed by the IAAF following allegations of state-sponsored doping and cover-ups.
Long jumper Darya Klishina is the only athlete eligible to represent Russia out of the 68 who were entered.
Track and field's governing body says it received a letter Tuesday from Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko on Tuesday "requesting a review" but the IAAF responded by saying "there are no grounds for further review."
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8 a.m.
Russian fencers are cleared to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after the sport's governing body found no grounds to exclude any of the team for doping.
The International Fencing Federation announcement was positive news for Russia, which has seen at least 105 athletes from its 387-strong Olympic team banned so far over the country's doping scandal.
The IFF says 197 tests taken from Russian athletes in 35 countries over the last two years were all negative.
Sixteen Russian fencers have qualified for the Rio Games and there are four reserves.
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