On Friday, the WADA panel found Russia’s anti-doping agency to be non-compliant.
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The report accused Russia’s state security service, the FSB, of using intimidation to influence the operations of a Moscow laboratory whose job it was to test samples for evidence of doping.
Track legend Coe was last night locked in a lawyer’s office in London, communicating with the 27 members of the IAAF council.
The report – commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency and led by former WADA President and global Olympic Committee Vice President Dick Pound – detailed a “deeply rooted culture of cheating at all levels” of Russian athletics.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for action and said his country would do everything in its power to eradicate doping.
He said: “This is not about politics, this is about the protection of clean athletes”.
As for their involvement in next year’s Olympics, Coe said the door was still open but warned Russian Federation would have to pull out all the stops to gain their place in Rio de Janeiro.
After the report was published, the anti-doping agency recommended the IAAF ban Russian track-and-field athletes from worldwide competition and stripped Russia’s anti-doping lab of its accreditation.
Mutko offered “broad cooperation” from Russia’s anti-doping agency on Friday morning, going as far as suggesting deep departmental reform.
Interpol, the worldwide Criminal Police Organization, has also launched criminal investigations based on the WADA report.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, speaking to The Associated Press on Thursday in a telephone interview, said there will “not in any case … never” be a boycott.
The committee’s findings will go to the WADA foundation board, which will vote on it at its meeting next Wednesday in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The IAAF council voted 22-1 in favour of the sanction, with the Russian representative not able to vote.
Russia’s participation in next year’s Rio Olympics is under threat following their suspension by Athletics’ world governing body which comes in the wake of revelations of widespread, state-sponsored doping.
A statement from the IAAF Athletes Commission read: “The IAAF Athletes’ Commission is extremely disappointed and concerned regarding the recent developments and allegations directed at our sport”. Many remained upbeat about their chances of competing in the Olympics while questioning why other countries were not being investigated alongside Russian Federation.
However, Putin also drew a clear distinction with clean athletes and those who dope. Mary Kate Shea, who manages the elite fields for the Boston Marathon, told Runner’s World, “The race would follow the guidelines set by the IAAF in this matter”.
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Martyn Rooney, Great Britain’s team captain during the World Championships in August, was one particular critic, questioning his handling of the doping scandal and accusing him of being “naive” in his lack of knowledge in relation to the allegations made against Diack.
