Dope-tainted Russia stays banned from athletics

MONACO: Russia remains suspended from international athletics competition after the IAAF voted to extend the ban on the country for state-sponsored doping with the next review scheduled for February.

The IAAF Council, under the presidency of Sebastian Coe, yesterday ruled to uphold the suspension despite Russian President Vladimir Putin having recently approved a law criminalising doping in sports.

The IAAF imposed its initial ban on Russia in November 2015 and has twice extended it, in March and June, on the grounds that the criteria set for the track and field powerhouses to be reincluded had not been met. The Russian athletics federation (RusAF) “has made further progress towards satisfying the reinstatement conditions since June 2016”, said Rune Andersen, the head of the IAAF Taskforce looking into the steps Russia is taking to combat doping.

The reinstatement conditions demand that RusAF comply in full with the WADA Code and IAAF anti-doping rules, that the IAAF and the RUSADA are able to conduct their anti-doping programmes and testing without interference, and as a result the reintegration of Russian athletes into international competitions will not jeopardise the integrity of those competitions. The progress made, Andersen said, included “rolling out anti-doping education modules for coaches and athletes, securing cooperation by the Russian criminal authorities with their French counterparts and the Russian parliament passing a law criminalising the supply of prohibited substances to athletes”.