(ATR) The IAAF task force evaluating Russia’s progress towards reinstatement heads to Moscow for its third visit Feb. 15-16.
"The meetings are again with the Interim Coordination Committee of the ROC [Russian Olympic Committee] and the new leadership of Russian athletics federation," an IAAF spokesman tells Around the Rings.
"As in the previous meetings, Rune Andersen [chairman] will go through the verification criteria in order to see how much progress has been done from the Russian side and if there is an improvement."
Andersen and his team, which includes IOC member from Namibia Frank Fredericks, will meet again with the new head of the Russian federation Dmitry Shlyakhtin who was appointed last month under attempts to bring Russian athletics back to the international fold.
Shlyakhtin in January rated Russia’s chances at 50:50 of overhauling Russia’s anti-doping regime after it was banned from international competition in November. Revelations of state-sponsored doping in the first report by the WADA Independent Commission headed by Richard Pound led to the ban.
Pound’s second report released last month said corruption was "embedded" at the IAAF. The IAAF and WADA are currently working with Russia’s NOC and athletics federation to revamp its anti-doping system. If Russia does not achieve compliance with the rules of the IAAF and World Anti-Doping Agency, its track-and-field athletes will not compete at the Rio Olympics.
On Monday, the IAAF published a list of 4,000 Russian athletes currently banned from competing under the federation’s suspension. It was an update to a list first published in December.
"The list is to inform event organizers who are the elite Russian athletes suspended from international competitions," an IAAF spokesman told ATR. "It is part of the verification criteria."
WADA announced Wednesday that a deal has been signed for the UK Anti-Doping agency (UKAD) to take conduct drug-testing in Russia on a temporary basis after its anti-doping body was declared non-compliant with the agency’s code in November.
WADA said in a statement that UKAD "will ensure that targeted and intelligence-led testing is carried out on Russian athletes, and is responsible for continued coordination with the appropriate sport federations during this period".
"Results management of all cases will be managed by a designated independent body, with full oversight by WADA," the statement said. "Separately, WADA is working directly with RUSADA, assisting the agency in its efforts to regain code compliance."
In a separate development in the world of athletics, Sally Bolton yesterday quit as managing director of the London 2017 IAAF world championships.
The resignation for what UK Athletics called "personal reasons" comes amid turmoil in the London 2017 boardroom. Two other officials, Heather Hancock and Martin Stewart, quit last week reportedly over conflicts with London 2017 chair Ed Warner and chief executive Niels De Vos.
Written by Mark Bisson
Forgeneral comments or questions, click here.
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about theOlympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribersonly.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
