Russian Mikhail Butov, an IAAF council member and secretary general of the Russian Athletics Federation will “present the ARAF position” before being “excluded from the remainder of the debate and voting”, the IAAF said in a statement.
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Last December, a documentary on German’s public broadcaster ARD aired allegations of widespread drug-taking in Russian track, a system supported by senior sport officials, the country’s anti-doping lab and anti-doping leadership, as well as the state.
“We may miss one or two competitions, but for athletes with clean consciences to miss the Olympics or a world championships would be real stupidity”, he said.
“These sanctions can be lifted only if the Russian side makes serious changes”.
“What the whole situation needs is for its leader – and Seb Coe is the custodian of what I think is the greatest sport in the world – to stand up and show a few leadership”, Thompson told Talksport radio.
Among the myriad allegations in the report, investigators said athletes were often given notice of out-of-competition tests, used false identities and frequently bribed doping control officers to get around other tests.
Unless the ARAF accepts the full suspension, the IAAF is entitled to proceed to a full hearing on whether the provisional suspension should be made a full suspension.
The IAAF will compile a list of criteria that must be fulfilled for Russian Federation to regain membership.
It also recommended on Monday to ban for life five Russian athletes and five coaches over their involvement in doping abuse violations as well as to strip the Moscow anti-doping laboratory of its license.
“It is a predictable and understandable decision”, the Russian sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, told R-Sport of the IAAF decision.
“An inspection team will be led by Independent Chair Rune Andersen, an independent worldwide anti-doping expert (Norwegian) and three members of the IAAF Council who will be appointed in the next few days”. “Our verification team will be tough and we will want to make sure that before there is a reintroduction to the sport for their athletes those changes have taken place”.
The vote was 22-1 in favour, among members of the IAAF council. He said Russia’s return to competition “will depend on how convincing we are with our case and how objective the commission is”.
People walk at the building where Russia’s anti-doping agency, RUSADA, in Moscow, Friday, November 13, 2015.
“This is not about politics, this is about the protection of clean athletes”.
Mutko said Russian Federation was already taking steps to curb doping problems.
Coe announced that Paul Deighton, who served as chief executive of the organizing committee for the 2012 London Olympics, will oversee a program of reform of the IAAF’s governance.
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“But I hail the fact that they’re allowing us to express ourselves”.
