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Run Anderson, head of the task force that is overseeing the Russian ban from the sport of athletics under the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has made the decision to continue the troubled nation’s ban from participation in international competition. This is the ninth time the IAAF have voted to extend the ban.
Again, this is the right decision. A culture cannot change overnight; they have a strong culture of cheating in sport.
The ban will continue into 2019. It was decided to extend their suspension until the samples and data from the Moscow Laboratory have been made available, it was announced from Monte Carlos on Tuesday. The data from the Moscow Laboratory that the IAAF and WADA are waiting for is key in establishing the depth and breadth of doping in Russia up until at least 2015. They continue to stall in submitting it. They also are stalling in paying fines.
The Russian Athletics Federation (RUSAF) was originally banned in late 2015 due to apparent systematic doping, extortion, bribery and coverups.
Russian athletes can only compete under a neutral flag provided that they follow certain criteria and guidelines. Russians under the Russian flag are banned.
The next major event is the European Indoor Track and Field Championships that will be taking place in Glasgow, Scotland in February 2019.
The World Anti Doping Agency has acquiesced on the ban in deference to the McLaren Report. They wanted to flex two of the primary hurdles that were in place for reinstatement; an abysmal showing by WADA.
WADA made their decision in Sept. 2018 dropping the recommendations of the roadmap to reinstatement which they themselves created.
The International Olympic Committee, who earlier this week signed a sponsorship deal with a convicted criminal representing Samsung commissioned a report called the Schmid Report. Anderson disagrees with their findings. The Schmid report favoured reinstatement.
Russia claims that they cannot pay the fees required to cover the cost of the investigations that the IAAF Task Force carried out, which is simply $2.7 million USD, yet Putin’s government, which apparently was involved with the systematic doping machine, attacks Ukraine at a higher cost per day. NATO calls Russia’s attack on Ukraine, an Act of War.
Their lack of morals is setting them back. Russia needs to pay for the investigation, submit all data from the Moscow Laboratory and prove that their athletes are not doping.
The IOC and WADA need to follow suit, after all, it was the IAAF that first banned Russia from competition. Future votes on outdoor track and field championships and 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be coming to a head. This could get uglier.
Congratulations on the IAAF under President Lord Sebastian Coe they lead the way towards creating an even playing field in the sport of athletics.
