IAAF to decide on ban for doping-tainted Russia
MONACO, Monaco (AFP) — World athletics chiefs will meet Friday to decide whether to suspend Russia over accusations of “state-sponsored” doping, a move that could eventually lead to Russian athletes being excluded from the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Sebastian Coe, the recently-elected president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), will not be at the organisation’s headquarters in Monaco but will preside from London over a conference call of the body’s 27 elected members .
Russian Mikhail Butov, an IAAF council member and secretary general of the Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) will “present the ARAF position” before being “excluded from the remainder of the debate and voting”, the IAAF said in a statement.
A simple majority is all that will be needed to confirm a suspension for Russia who were accused of widespread doping by an independent commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in a report which has shaken track and field, one of the Olympic Games’ flagship sports.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said Moscow was ready to reform or “create a new anti-doping organisation” were the IAAF or WADA to demand it.
Mutko also broached the idea of appointing a “foreign specialist” as head of the doping laboratory, a move towards openness never before seen in Russian sport.
The 335-page WADA report blasted Russian officials for blackmailing athletes to cover up positive tests as well as destroying test samples.
Although Russian officials are expected to offer an olive branch by admitting to some cases of cheating, the IAAF is under huge pressure to take strong action just nine months out from the Rio Olympics.
“Europe will support Sebastian Coe. We have full confidence in him. We are all on the same page,” Svein Arne Hansen, the president of European Athletics, told Britain’s Daily Telegraph.
However, one leading IAAF council member, former Ukraine pole-vaulter Sergey Bubka, warned that it would be wrong to punish innocent athletes.
“All those involved, officials, managers or coaches, must pay the price,” said Bubka, whom Coe beat in an August vote to succeed disgraced Lamine Diack as IAAF president.
“But ordinary athletes, those who have nothing to do with this matter, should not have to miss a single competition.”
