Earlier this week, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said 67 Russian athletes have filed legal suits to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, saying they should not be punished along with drugs cheats.
Advertisement
Russian Federation has appealed against the ban which will prevent its athletics team competing at the Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The IAAF says track and field athletes who have fulfilled exceptional criteria, including repeated drugs testing outside of Russian Federation, can take part in the Rio Games under a neutral flag.
In addition, the IAAF has already approved an application from Russian athlete and doping whistleblower Yulia Stepanova, whose testimony of doping within the Russian team, including undercover footage of apparent doping confessions, formed an important part of the evidence against Russia in the WADA investigation. Fedorovtsev, 36, is the 2004 Athens Olympic Games gold medallist and two-time European champion. The IAAF’s statement, specifically denoting her as a “neutral”, made it clear that they consider her an athlete without a country.
On June 21, head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach said that all Russian athletes, who will enter the Olympic competition in Brazil, will be allowed to participate under the national flag since they are representing the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), which is a full-fledged member of the IOC.
The IAAF added that Stepanova’s participation as a neutral athlete “is still subject to acceptance by the organizer of the competition in question, in accordance with the rules of that competition”. Russia’s own anti-doping agency was nearly entirely shut down past year after it faced cover-up claims.
IAAF may review the decision of June 17 if CAS satisfies application from the Russian Olympic Committee (OCR), Brilliantova said on Sunday.
Advertisement
The measure is aimed largely at Russians who have been based overseas, and few athletes are likely to be eligible, though USA -based long jumper Daria Klishina, a two-time European indoor champion, is likely to be one. Olympic athletics starts on August 12.
