Russia’s track-and-field athletes will not "be able to compete in this year’s Olympics" after the IAAF upheld an earlier ban, "saying the country’s sports system is tainted by systematic doping," according to Rudnitsky & Weber of BLOOMBERG. By "refusing to reinstate the Russian Athletics Federation," the IAAF also bars the athletes from int'l competition including the Rio games, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said at a meeting in Vienna on Friday. Coe: "The IAAF Council was unanimous that ... Russian athletes could not credibly return to international competition without undermining the confidence of their competitors and the public." Russian athletes and officials "had pleaded against a ban on the whole team, saying it unfairly punished athletes who were not doping." While the IOC is meeting next week to discuss the case, Coe said that it was "up to the IAAF to determine who can compete in track and field events" at the Games. He said, "I’m not prejudging any conversation or deliberation, but it is a very clear proposition that the eligibility for athletes to compete internationally sits and lies with the IAAF" (BLOOMBERG, 6/17).
IOC BACKS RULING: In London, Sean Ingle reported the prospects of Russian track and field athletes appearing at the Olympics "receded further on Saturday" when the IOC said that it "fully respected" the decision to ban the country’s athletes from Rio. Some observers had expected the IOC, "which has ultimate authority over the Olympics, might attempt to overturn Friday’s decision" by the IAAF. However, in a statement the IOC made it clear that it "welcomed and supported the IAAF’s strong stance against doping," before noting that "the eligibility of athletes in any international competition including the Olympic Games is a matter for the respective international federation" (GUARDIAN, 6/18).
ZERO TOLERANCE: The BBC reported the IOC said that the ruling was in line with its "zero-tolerance policy." A taskforce studying reforms in Russia acknowledged on Friday that "significant progress" had been made but said that the "deep-seated culture" of tolerance of doping "appears not to have changed." That followed a report by WADA that said that anti-doping officials in Russia "were being stopped from testing athletes, and were also being threatened by security services." WADA President Craig Reedie said there had been "no cultural change" in Russia since its athletes were banned and the IAAF ruling should send "a strong message" to other sports. UK Athletics Chair Ed Warner accepts the IOC "is in a difficult position but urged it not to bow to pressure to allow Russian athletes to compete in Rio." He said, "What is being revealed is that many other Russian sports are subject to the same corruption" (BBC, 6/18).
'UNJUST AND UNFAIR': SKY SPORTS' Mark Ashenden reported Coe insisted Russia, not his organization, is "responsible for the country's drug-free athletes being banned from the Rio Olympics." Russian President Vladimir Putin labeled the ban "unjust and unfair" while pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva "repeated her threat" to sue the IAAF and the IOC for "an infringement of her human rights if prevented from competing." Coe said that the continuing sanction "proved the IAAF's commitment to cleaning up the sport." He said, "In some quarters, the suspension in November was (seen as) only a slap across the wrist while we figured out how, in short order, we could get Russian athletes back into the athletics competitions in Rio. ... So, we are now faced with critics claiming we have made an unfair decision on clean athletes in Russia. I want to be very, very clear on this. We did not make a decision on clean athletes. We evaluated a system and a culture within which all athletes in Russia are competing. A tainted system that cast doubts on every athlete who is part of it" (SKY SPORTS, 6/19).
STEPANOVA TO COMPETE?: In London, Bloom & Mole reported Yulia Stepanova, the Russian former drugs cheat "whose whistle blowing revelations helped expose the massive doping problem in her country," could be allowed to compete in the Rio Olympics as an independent athlete. With the IAAF upholding its ban on Russian athletes, and with her mother country "highly unlikely to have selected her anyway," Stepanova was hoping to compete under the flag of the IOC. The IAAF had previously said that the issue "was a complicated legal and logistical one." Rune Andersen, the head of the IAAF's task force investigating Russian doping, said, "Any individual athlete who has made an extraordinary contribution to anti doping -- in particular we include Yulia Stepanova here -- should be considered favorably. I cannot say she will compete in Rio but the Council said they will look favorably" (TELEGRAPH, 6/17). REUTERS' Vladimir Soldatkin reported Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Sunday that the IAAF has "unfairly shifted blame for the doping scandal onto Russia's athletics federation and should be disbanded." Andrey Mitkov, a sports agent, said that the "class action" appeal will be delivered to the court in Lausanne on Tuesday (REUTERS, 6/19). The AP reported two Russian athletes have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn the IAAF’s ban on the Russian team. Race-walkers Denis Nizhegorodov and Svetlana Vasilyeva argued that "a ban of the entire team is unfair punishment." Both athletes said that they reject an IAAF measure "that would allow some Russian athletes to compete under a neutral status," rather than the Russian flag, if they can "show they are clean and have been tested regularly by a reputable testing authority outside Russia." Vasilyeva said, "I’m a citizen of Russia, a great sports power. I don’t agree with competing under the Olympic flag" (AP, 6/19).
BITTERSWEET BAN: USA TODAY's Rachel Axon reported for Vitaly Stepanov, the ban that will keep his home country out of the Rio Olympics "was bittersweet." In the same decision that "closed the door to Russian track and field athletes competing under their flag at the Games," the IAAF also created a path for Yulia Stepanova, Vitaly’s wife and a Russian runner, to return to int'l competition. He and his wife "had not gone down the path to being whistleblowers to value Yulia’s athletic career above all else." Their goal was to fight doping in sport, and the IAAF’s decision on Friday "represented a significant step in doing that." Vitaly Stepanov said, "The decision, if that’s what it takes to make real changes in Russian athletics and in Russian sports in general, to keep the ban longer so Russian sports officials understand that they actually have to make real changes and not the fake ones, then it was the right decision. It’s really unfortunate that it’s happened to our own home country but in general to the athletics world, but if that’s what it takes to makes sports cleaner then it must be done and it was a good and strong decision" (USA TODAY, 6/17).
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| Stephanie Hightower |
RUSSIA CRIES FOUL: REUTERS' Mitch Phillips reported Russia claimed the IAAF’s decision to "continue its ban of Russian athletics on Friday was unfair and threatened legal action," while the rest of the world "welcomed the move and urged the IOC not to go against it." The Russian Ministry of Sport said, "We are extremely disappointed by the IAAF’s decision, creating the unprecedented situation of a whole nation’s track and field athletes being banned from the Olympics." USA Track & Field President Stephanie Hightower, an IAAF Council member, said that it was "the only proper course of action given the compelling and powerful evidence presented to Council." There was "some sympathy elsewhere too for innocent Russian athletes," with American Olympic decathlon Silver Medalist Trey Hardee saying, "Sad day for Russian athletes. The people in charge should be punished, they created the culture of dope." Individual athletes, however, "were quick to take to social media to give their support for the ban." British marathon runner Mara Yamauchi said, "I am sick of Russians whining about shattered dreams, opportunities lost etc. Russians have been stealing clean athletes' dreams for years." British middle distance runner Lynsey Sharp, who has been previously "cheated out of medals by subsequently banned dopers," agreed, saying in reply to the statement from the Russian athletics federation, "And your country has destroyed 'clean athletes' dreams' for decades. Not a nice feeling is it?" (REUTERS, 6/18).
VEILED THREAT: In London, Ben Bloom reported "still smarting from the news that its athletics team are banned from the Rio Olympics," Russia has now been warned that its troubles "are only likely to worsen as attention turns to its doping indiscretions in other sports." Andersen offered a "thinly veiled threat that things were only expected to worsen." He asked, "Who believes this only applies to track and field? It doesn’t make sense, that it is only limited to athletics. There has been a call from athletes that WADA must go and do a better job. There is a job for WADA to do and President Craig Reedie has been asked to do more" (TELEGRAPH, 6/18).
