Olympic Champion, many times World Champion and Record Holder in Pole Vault Yelena Isinbaeva addressed the World Athletics Community about the threat of the ban for all Russian athletes to compete in all IAAF events.
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The IAAF council voted 22-1 in favor of suspension, deciding also that Russian Federation not be allowed to host two previously scheduled competitions, the 2016 World Race Walking Team Championships and the 2016 Junior World Championships. If Russia went ahead and reformed its anti-doping system and its athletics federation, it would need a firm undertaking from the world anti-doping agency that it would not demand a fresh round of changes later on, he said.
The suspension takes effect immediately, barring Russian athletes from all worldwide track and field events until the country can prove it has put its house in order. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, has ordered a probe into the claims, while the country’s athletics federation, ARAF, hope to prevent its athletes being banned from next year’s Olympics by claiming “irregularities” around its drug-testing system were down to the sport’s “old leadership”.
“Today we have been dealing with the failure of ARAF [All-Russia Athletic Federation] and made the decision to provisionally suspend them, the toughest sanction we can apply at this time”, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said in a statement, according to the BBC.
The WADA-led commission said Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA’s doping control officers had “routinely” accepted bribes from athletes to ensure their doping tests would be found negative, among other findings.
The allegations have raised the prospect of Russia’s track and field athletes being denied participation in next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Since the WADA report was released on Monday, Coe has been under huge pressure to take strong action.
– To regain membership to the IAAF the new federation would have to fulfil a list of criteria.
The move came five days after the World Anti-Doping Agency issued a scathing report alleging a “systemic”, “deep-rooted” and “state-sponsored” doping program among Russian athletes, coaches and officials.
Renee Anne Shirley, the former head of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission who blew the whistle on the lack of tests in Jamaican athletics, said the Nike connection was a “clear conflict of interest” for Coe.
“It is necessary to protect our athletes from the use of illegal drugs”.
In December 2014 German TV Channel ARD aired a series of documentaries on alleged doping abuse in Russian sports.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko criticized the decision as “very odd”, saying that the IAAF should have focused on its own legal problems.
“We are ready for broad cooperation”, he stressed.
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Before the vote, Sergei Bubka, the IAAF vice president from Ukraine, argued against suspension, on the grounds that innocent athletes should not be kept from the Olympics because of the wrongdoings of others. Next summer’s Rio Games run from August 5-21, though athletes would typically begin qualification steps in the spring.
