Athletics NZ backs ban on Russia

Athletics New Zealand has publicly backed the decision by the IAAF to continue the suspension of the Russian Athletics Federation through until the Rio Olympics.

The ban could benefit at least two of New Zealand’s leading athletes at the Games, with several Russians among the leading contenders in the women’s pole vault which will feature rising Kiwi star Eliza McCartney of Auckland and the women’s shot put where Valerie Adams will be gunning for a third straight Olympic gold.

Two-time Olympic pole vault gold medallist, three-time world champion and world recordholder Yelena Isinbayeva has already declared she will not compete in Rio unless it is under the Russian flag, while compatriots Anzhelika Sidorova, Angelina Zhuk-Krasnova and Alyona Lutkovskaya would also have had aspirations of competing at the Games.

Russians Irina Tarasova, Olesya Sviridova and Yevgeniya Solovyova are all ranked in the world’s top 20 in the shot put.

Several Russians could also drop out of the men’s shot put, featuring New Zealand’s Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill, with Aleksandr Lesnoy, a 21m thrower, and Konstantin Lyadusov the best of those who hoped to line up in Rio.

An IAAF-appointed inspection team had been tasked with determining whether the Russian federation (ARAF) were meeting the verification criteria, set after consultation with the World AntiDoping Agency (Wada). As a result of that, athletics’ world governing body unanimously upheld its ban on the country for systematic doping, declaring not enough progress had been made in reform.

Athletics NZ chief executive Linda Hamersley said after the announcement yesterday morning that the national body supported the process put in place by the IAAF under president Lord Sebastian Coe.

‘‘We understand the process has been robust and that the IAAF inspection team are not satisfied that ARAF are fully compliant with the verification criteria,’’ Hamersley said.

‘‘We endorsed Lord Coe in the 2015 IAAF elections as the best person to lead the sport through some difficult times.

‘‘We are pleased with the changes that have been made in governance structures to date by Coe.

‘‘We acknowledge the job being done by Wada and Drug Free Sport New Zealand to keep sport clean and will continue to work with them.’’

Athletics NZ high performance director Scott Goodman said it was positive that New Zealand athletes heading to the Rio Olympics would now have some certainty around who they will be facing.

‘‘Our athletes can now focus on competing in Rio on what we hope will be a level playing field,’’ said Goodman.

‘‘We want young athletes aspiring to be future Olympians to know that the sport is working hard to have a clean, drug-free environment for them.’’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will seek the intervention of Wada and the International Olympic Committee over the decision but that is unlikely according to IOC vicepresident John Coates yesterday.

IAAF president Sebastian Coe said his governing body had the last word on athletes’ eligibility to compete at international events.