The 27-member IAAF Council will vote on whether to readmit Russian Federation under the presidency of Sebastian Coe, himself the target of allegations that he enlisted the help of the fugitive son of disgraced predecessor Lamine Diack to secure his election past year.
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The Russian sports ministry said it was notified of the decision by track and field’s world governing body, which ruled that the country had not done enough to earn reinstatement.
Putin says “there can not be collective responsibility for all athletes or athletes of one federation if someone has been caught doping”.
The IAAF will decide Friday in Vienna whether to uphold or lift the suspension of Russia’s track and field federation.
Putin flatly denied the accusation on Friday, saying the government “cannot be involved”. WADA says he will start his new role in Montreal on October 3. “It’s why we have stood with a broad coalition of those who value clean sport in the position that Russian track and field should not be allowed to participate in the games”.
Any thoughts, though, that Russian Federation may have had about winning over the doubters among the Council members were probably dashed on Wednesday when WADA released another damning report.
“FINA is monitoring all developments in the world’s fight against cheating and doping in sport and is taking decisive action to protect the majority of our athletes who are clean”, the world body added.
Younger also had previous roles with Europol and Interpol.
A British lawmaker says IAAF President Sebastian Coe is facing “very, very disturbing” allegations about his knowledge of Russia’s doping problems.
While the WADA report did not specifically identify any swimmers in particular, or the sport of swimming in general, numerous athletes tested in the period discussed participate in Summer Olympics sports, meaning that it is quite possible, but not certain, that swimmers were among the athletes who missed doping tests.
Russia will continue to undertake legal measures in protecting the interests of Russian athletes and the Russian national team at the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.
The IAAF will decide later Friday whether to readmit Russian Federation, which was suspended in November following a World Anti-Doping Agency commission report detailing systematic, state-sponsored doping.
“Russia has done everything that [the] IAAF independent commission has rightly asked of us in order to be reinstated to athletic competition”, Mutko wrote. A report Wednesday from WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, said that more than 736 tests between February 15 and May 29 this year were thwarted by Russian Federation.
Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva is among the Russian athletes hoping to compete in Rio.
The ban was imposed in November following a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency commission that alleged state-sponsored doping, cover-ups and corruption.
Friday’s meeting comes two days after a new WADA report cited continuing obstruction and violations of drug-testing in Russian Federation.
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Many observers took this to mean that the International Olympic Committee was ready to overturn any IAAF ban, though the idea that athletes who could “prove” they were clean might be invited was widely dismissed, as any who have not tested positive would claim that status.
