The International Olympic Committee is taking extra security measures at the Olympic doping lab in Rio de Janeiro to prevent a repeat of the brazen manipulation of samples at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. IOC medical director Dr. Richard Budgett says "we can be very confident" that the thousands of doping samples at the Rio lab are secure. Extra security was put into place following the scandal over state-sponsored doping in Russia, where tainted samples were swapped out for clean ones during clandestine, middle-of-the-night operations at the Sochi lab. Budgett says there is a "huge" presence of security officers at the Rio lab, as well as an extensive network of surveillance cameras throughout the facility. Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece has won the Olympic gold medal in men's still rings. A leading Russian independent newspaper has issued a passionate appeal to lift a ban on Russian athletes competing at the Rio Paralympics. The Novaya Gazeta, known for its biting criticism of the Kremlin and its exposure of official corruption, said in Monday's letter that the ban "will hit absolutely innocent athletes, their relatives and friends, and everyone who see hope in the Paralympic Movement." Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova says she fears for her safety since hackers infiltrated both her email account and the anti-doping system that keeps track of her whereabouts. Stepanova, the 800-meter runner who was denied a spot in the Olympics by the International Olympic Committee, says she, her husband and their young son recently moved to another undisclosed location in the United States. Stepanova unveiled details that led to the discovery of a wide-ranging doping system inside her home country. Stepanova said she would of course like to be in Rio De Janeiro, but she has heard stories about crime and lack of security in the Olympic city and thinks it would be easy for someone to hurt her if she were in Brazil right now. Germany has defeated the United States 2-1 in the women's field hockey quarterfinals. Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro have clinched a second successive gold dressage medal, setting an Olympic record in the process. The International Olympic Committee says Bridgestone signed a four-year deal to become a "founding partner" of the digital channel, which will launch after the opening ceremony of the Rio Games on Sunday night. Russia is atop the standings after the duet technical routine in synchronized swimming. In the men's 1,000-meter canoe singles, defending Olympic champion Sebastian Brendel is through to the final along with home crowd favorite Isaquias Queiroz of Brazil and Serghei Tarnovschi of Moldova. Through the first half of the Olympics, women have seen more screen time on NBC in the evening — particularly in beach volleyball. Through Saturday, NBC showed two hours, 45 minutes of women's beach volleyball, and 35 seconds of men. Michael Tinsley, the Olympic silver medalist in 2012, also failed to qualify after placing fifth in the last heat. The six U.S. men in Rio dropped to 9-4 at the Olympics with one bronze medal and two boxers still scheduled to fight for medals this week. Russia was banned from the games by the International Paralympic Committee last month when IPC president Philip Craven said evidence of mass doping cover-ups in Russia showed a "medals over morals" mentality incompatible with the games. Russian athletes have a mixed record at CAS, which last month upheld a ban on its Olympic track and field team, but earlier Monday allowed a single Russian athlete, Darya Klishina, to compete in Olympic track on appeal. Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland recorded the two best marks in history to win the Olympic women's hammer throw final, improving the world record to 82.29 meters. Zhang Wenxiu of China won the silver medal with her season-best 76.75 and Sophie Hitchon of Britain moved into the bronze medal position with her last attempt of 74.54. Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland has won the Olympic women's hammer throw gold medal with a world record of 82.29 meters. Zhang Wenxiu of China took silver with her season-best 76.75 and Sophie Hitchon of Britain moved into the bronze medal position with her last attempt of 74.54. The spokesman for the Rio Games organizing committee has apologized to U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte and three of his teammates over how they were robbed earlier this week, and revealed that security officials have been asked to be even more vigilant going forward. Through the U.S. Olympic Committee, Lochte said he and fellow U.S. swimmers Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, Jimmy Feigen were robbed when the taxi they were in early Sunday was stopped by people posing as police officers.
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