In 2016 Kenya has failed twice to meet the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) requests for legislative reform, prompting concerns from local sporting bodies the country could be declared “non-compliant” and their athletes banned from global competition.
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“However, in order to compete in that competition, in addition to complying with all of the other eligibility requirements under the Competition Rules, that athlete will still have to obtain an invitation to participate in the International Competition (s) in question, in line with the rules of the organisers of that competition”.
On Wednesday, WADA chief Craig Reedie had said tough measures such as banning Russian competitors from worldwide events were vital to showing the world’s clean athletes that dope cheats will not be tolerated.
Among other things, applicants have to supply the IAAF with details on the extent of their contacts with officials, coaches, doctors and other officials from the Russian federation; whether any of their drug samples are now stored or being retested; how long they have been outside the country and whether they faced “fully adequate” testing; and how many in-competition and out-of-competition urine and blood samples they have provided. The Russians confirmed they will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The suspension implied that Russian field and track athletes were ineligible to take part in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.
The federations were named as Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
Kenya has come under scrutiny from the IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over its flagging doping system, necessitating changes to legislation to avoid expulsion of its world-beating distance runners from August’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The IWF deprived Russian Federation of two athlete slots in Rio Olympics due to multiple positive doping tests during the qualification period.
The IWF also punished three other nations – North Korea, Azerbaijan and Moldova – with sanctions that will reduce the number of slots available to them in Rio.
A Wada study from 2014 found that at least 36 athletes had tested positive for various banned substances, and that one in five sportspeople knew a colleague who used illegal drugs.
“Both the Taskforce and the Doping Review Board have worked extremely hard to get to where we are today, just days away from the European Championships”, IAAF president Sebastien Coe said in a statement.
President of Russia’s Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov.
The guidelines also highlight another potential row and that is on the issue of what kit these “neutral athletes” will wear and what flag they appear under.
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Sir Craig Reedie, President of the World Anti-Doping Agency, has supported the position of the IAAF, despite also being the vice-president of the IOC.
