The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is expected to rule against Russia’s anti-doping body at a key meeting in Colorado on Wednesday which will aim to map out future strategies for the global war on drugs.
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Fallout from the WADA Independent Commission report into allegations of widespread doping, corruption and collusion in Russian athletics will dominate the agenda when WADA’s executive committee and foundation board meet on Tuesday and Wednesday.
When asked if Russian athletes could possibly compete under the Olympic flag, IOC president Thomas Bach said: “This is total speculation, I cannot see this situation occurring at this moment”.
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.
In response to McLaren’s comments, the IAAF said focus was on making the All-Russia Athletic Federation (Araf) “compliant for re-entry into worldwide competition”. “This partially explains such a tough decision with regard to Russia’s Athletics Federation”, Zelichenok was quoted as saying by state-run newswire R-Sport agency.
“They need to clean out the culture in Russian athletics, it needs a big overhaul and it takes a lot longer than that”.
The Russian Olympic Committee announced Saturday it would lead the efforts to reform athletics in the country, vowing to punish athletes, coaches and state officials involved in the scandal.
Coe was elected president of the IAAF in August after spending eight years as deputy to Lamine Diack, who is being investigated by French police on suspicion of having taken more than 1million euros in payments to cover up positive drugs tests. The Briton also said the “architecture of anti-doping” systems had failed the world’s track and field competitors and acknowledged a hard self-examination as he reflected on whether the sport could have approached the unfolding crisis more effectively. In that talk he made it clear to the dozens of sports leaders assembled, Olympic and non-Olympic, that good governance was an issue they must confront or else suffer the consequences that face Federation Internationale de Football Association and now the IAAF.
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“This has been a shameful wake up call and we are clear that cheating at any level will not be tolerated”, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said in a press release Friday.
