Reeling from multiple reports of widespread, systemic, state-sponsored doping, the Russian athletes were initially suspended in November.
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Butkov was in Vienna as a member of the IAAF council.
According to the Associated Press, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko called the idea “absurd” and said, because Russia’s drug testing program has been overseen by foreign organizations since November, that puts them outside the Russian system and therefore eligibile to compete.
U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart added: “Obviously, banning Russian track and field from the Olympics is the right outcome”. But he expressed hope that some Russian athletes will still be allowed to compete, a possibility that the IAAF also allowed.
“The systematic doping that has been ongoing in Russian Federation – it’s hard to pick the clean athletes”, he said.
“But don’t run away with the idea that it’s a large number”, IAAF president Sebastian Coe said after announcing the ruling loaded with geopolitical ramifications.
The independent commission that looked into Russian doping said 90 percent of the Russian athletes it asked for information either did not respond or refused to cooperate. His spokesman said legal measures would be taken to defend Russian athletes against a suspension.
These innocent members of the track and field team have spent many years getting ready to represent their country in the Rio Olympics and their sacrifice most certainly will be wasted, the ministry noted.
The ban is sweeping and applies to the entire Russian track and field team.
The IOC is concerned about innocent athletes being included unjustly in the ban and is considering granting them a special dispensation, as reported by Reuters.
The IOC merely “took note” of the decision but said it would discuss the situation in a telephone conference on Saturday.
Two-time Olympic pole vault gold medallist, three-time world champion and world record-holder Yelena Isinbayeva has already declared she will not compete in Rio unless it is under the Russian flag, while compatriots Anzhelika Sidorova, Angelina Zhuk-Krasnova and Alyona Lutkovskaya would also have had aspirations of competing at the Games. “I will appeal to the human rights court”, she said, without specifying in which court she planned to challenge the ruling. Other cases could end up in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
AOC president John Coates, who is also an International Olympic Committee vice-president, said they supported the move by the athletics world governing body.
“I don’t have a message for the International Olympic Committee”, said Coe, who will attend Tuesday’s meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. “It’s very troubling that someone of her caliber would question a system that basically every other Olympic athlete is subject to, and that she’s talking about human-rights issues”.
“I think it will be detrimental to the sport if there are Russian athletes there”.
Russian track and field athletes seem unlikely to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games after their ban from global competition was extended on Friday, with damning accusations made about the country’s lack of anti-doping efforts.
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Described as “a courageous athlete” by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Stepanov went into hiding after revealing the details of the problem, and now lives in the United States at a secret location. Russian Federation is more known for its success during the Winter Olympics, which it hosted in Sochi in 2014.
