“Russian athletes could not credibly return to global competition without undermining the confidence of their competitors and the public”, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said.
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Speaking to foreign media at a late evening roundtable on Friday Putin said the IAAF – track’s world governing body – meted out “collective” punishment that has hurt clean athletes.
“There can not be collective responsibility of all athletes”, he added.
A statement from the Russian Ministry of Sport continued: “We have rebuilt our anti-doping institutions which are being led by respected worldwide experts”.
The Russian ministry of sport released a statement Friday saying it was “extremely disappointed” by the decision.
Russian Federation appealed to the International Olympic Committee to allow athletes who have not tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs to compete in this summer’s Games.
Isinbayeva had written an impassioned op-ed in the New York Times just before the IAAF convened in Vienna on Friday, urging them to end the ban for the sake of clean Russian athletes.
The IAAF council will make its decision after receiving a recommendation from a five-person task force, headed by Norway’s Rune Andersen, that has been monitoring Russia’s reform efforts.
Russian Federation has been desperately trying to get the ban lifted before the games in August. That’s what happened with a lot of clean athletes in Russian Federation. “History has shown that is not the case”. “The decision was unanimous – politics did not play a part in that room today”.
“We will judge by the deeds, not words of the new United States president and will seek ways to normalize ties and advance our cooperation in economy and worldwide security, ” he said.
However, the International Olympic Committee could still allow Russian athletes to compete at the Olympics, which begin on 5 August.
“It is really a sad situation in Russian athletics and in general worldwide athletics”, Stepanov said of the IAAF decision. “Eligibility is a matter for the IAAF”.
The move to maintain an worldwide suspension of the Russian athletes came seven months after an investigation by an independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency revealed a system of widespread, state-sponsored doping that involved bribes between global track officials, Russian sports leaders and athletes-all aimed at covering up drug cheating. Reports revealed that 52 Russian athletes have tested positive since November and Russian security harassed WADA testers. The IAAF upheld its initial November ban.
“That is a much needed message”. How can one say an athlete is clean?
“We now appeal to the members of the International Olympic Committee to not only consider the impact that our athletes’ exclusion will have on their dreams and the people of Russian Federation, but also that the Olympics themselves will be diminished by their absence”, the statement said.
“Clean athletes’ dreams are being destroyed because of the reprehensible behavior of other athletes and officials”.
“I can not say she will compete in Rio but the council said they will look favourably”.
“The Games are supposed to be a source of unity, and we hope that they remain as a way of bringing people together”.
Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko sent an open letter to the IAAF, claiming that Russian Federation had met all the conditions asked of it, including overhauling its disgraced athletics association and introducing additional drug testing. Individual athletes might not have failed a drug test but that doesn’t mean anything – we’ve seen that in the past.
And while Andersen and Coe were explaining the council’s decisions to the media, Russian pole vault queen Yelena Isinbaeva repeated her threat to sue the IAAF and International Olympic Committee for an infringement of her human rights if prevented from competing at a fifth Games.
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When asked if Russian athletes could still compete in Rio in national vests, Andersen said you can never “guarantee anything in a world full of lawyers”, and both he and Coe know all of their careful work could be unpicked at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
