Suspension of Russian Athletes From Olympics Won’t Affect Paralympic Team

The world athletics governing body at a meeting last Friday, voted unanimously to uphold its ban on Russian Federation for systematic doping thereby dealing a major blow to the eastern European nation’s fate of participating in the Rio Olympic games.

Among those attending Tuesday’s meeting will be IAAF President Sebastian Coe and Russian Olympic Committee chief Alexander Zhukov, who has expressed hope that the Russians could still find a way back in.

The Council of the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) decided at its session in Vienna on Friday to keep in force memberships suspension of the Russian athletics body.

Considering both the IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) have raised lingering problems with Russian testing procedures, it can be argued that no Russian based athlete can be considered “clean”, with more investigations therefore required.

Rune Andersen, the Norwegian at the head of the IAAF Taskforce charged with investigating doping in Russian athletics, added: “If there are any athletes out there who comply with this tiny chance of competing under a neutral flag, they can do it immediately. And we are going to cooperate with all the worldwide organizations in this regard”.

When pressed to explain what he meant by “precedent-setting opportunity”, Reedie said: “We are encouraged that the IAAF recognised its responsibilities”.

“This (world anti-doping) code is in place to protect clean athletes and provide them with a fair and safe sporting environment”, COC president Tricia Smith said in a release.

The IOC went even further, saying it would undertake “further far-reaching measures in order to ensure a level playing field for all the athletes” competing in Rio.

Speaking later at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin added: “Let me emphasize that we have never supported any violations in sports”.

“Clean athletes’ dreams are being destroyed because of the reprehensible behavior of other athletes and officials”, the ministry said.

Speaking on Friday, Putin had also suggested he expected the International Olympic Committee to oppose the IAAF decision, while vowing to speak with WADA. “The eligibility of athletes in any worldwide competition, including the Olympic Games, is a matter for the respective global Federation”, said the IOC in a statement.

The report, which was commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, said that “top Russian athletes had been systematically using drugs to win medals, including in London at the Olympics in 2012”, as NPR’s Corey Flintoff reported.

But there are fears that the scale of Russia’s breaking of doping rules extend beyond just track and field, with swimming said to be another sport that has broken doping rules.

Russian authorities have vowed to defend athletes against a ban.

Meanwhile, the chairs of the IOC Athlete Commission and the WADA Athlete Committee said they “commend and support” the move. “I am honoured to be thought of in that area but I have a massive commitment to England and the RFU and I can’t afford to spend any time away from the team”, Jones said.