Leaders say no to Russian track at Rio Games — AP NewsBreak

IAAF president Lord Coe has admitted he should have seen the warning signs before athletics became engulfed in a doping crisis.

The IAAF Council suspended Russia on Friday following the publication of a damning report by an independent commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on mass doping in Russian athletics.

“We had to withhold a few information relating to the worldwide athletics federation because of the possibility that if we disclosed it it would jeopardize ongoing criminal enquiries that are being conducted by the French police”.

“The best way to protect clean athletes is to be unflinching in our commitment to them and not just in words”.

“I train so hard every day I know what work I put into it so it’s a shame when people think the sport isn’t credible anymore”, he said.

“This has been a shameful wake-up call and we are clear that cheating at any level will not be tolerated”.

The Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations (iNADO) will lobby for Russian track athletes to be banned from competing at next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Isinbayeva is a two-time Olympic champion (Athens-2004, Beijing-2008), a silver medalist of the 2012 London Olympics and a three-time world champion.

Russia’s sports minister on Monday criticized last week’s decision to suspend the country’s track and field athletes, calling it a display of “toughness”, the TASS news agency reported.

The IAAF said priority for both the governing body and Russian Federation was to make ARAF “compliant with the IAAF”.

A total of 24 Members of Council took part in the meeting: 22 voted in favour of the sanction against ARAF, who have been officially informed of the Council’s decision, 1 voted against.

“Although this is a hard time, in the long term, the sport ultimately will be stronger for it”. “The IAAF is writing to ARAF today to convene disciplinary proceedings against the athlete”.

IAAF also stands accused of “systematic failures” and its former president Lamine Diack is under investigation on suspicion of corruption.

After many Russian officials initially dismissed the WADA report as a politically motivated smear Russia has become increasingly willing to offer reforms and admit past mistakes on doping even as they continue to dispute key WADA claims such as that the Russian security services infiltrated anti-doping operations.

Coe accepted, though, that the IAAF was also in the dock.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Sir Craig Reedie dismissed any suggestion that the suspension imposed on the All-Russia Athletics Federation would be lifted before the 2016 Rio Games if the country continued to flout its responsibilities in the fight for clean sport.

“We find ourselves in a shameful position tonight and we need to look at ourselves”.

“I’m happy to take that suggestion to our executive committee on Tuesday and, with a bit of luck, we will get a few way ahead”, said Reedie, who admitted such a body may require additional financing.

“The architecture of anti-doping has failed them and, we have to ask, were the walls too high in many of our organisations to properly investigate abuses?”