Russia remain banned by IAAF from international competitions

MONACO, Dec. 4  — The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Council has accepted Taskforce’s recommendation not to reinstate Russia’s Athletics Federation (RusAF) until two conditions have been met in full.

During the two-day 215th meeting that concluded here on Tuesday, the IAAF Council continued its ban on Russia for contending in international competitions, while some can compete as neutral athletes.

Taskforce head Rune Andersen explained the two conditions that RusAF needs to meet for its possible reinstatement at a press conference.

Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) must confirm that it has been given all of the data and access to the samples that it needs to determine which of the Russian athletes in the database have a case to answer for breach of the IAAF anti-doping rules.

“The IAAF Council was clear that Russian athletes cannot return to international competitions unconditionally until that issue is resolved one way or the other,” said Andersen.

Andersen told media, “We have received no assurances that it will be delivered to us directly. The assurances have been given to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and WADA has set the deadline of Dec. 31 to receive the data from Russia.”

“We will have to rely on receiving data from WADA, and then give it to the AIU to examine the data before we are satisfied that data is correct,” he added.

The second condition is that RusAF must pay all of the costs incurred in the work of the Taskforce and in bringing or defending Russian cases at Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

“The IAAF Council was clear that this debt must be settled for reinstatement to occur. It is not fair to ask the IAAF and its other members to continue to carry these costs,” Andersen pointed out.

“The Taskforce hopes that RusAF and the Russian authorities will now take all steps necessary to meet these conditions as soon as possible. The Taskforce stands ready to meet as soon as these conditions have been met in order to make a recommendation to Council for the reinstatement of RusAF,” he added.

The IAAF Council also announced that the Hungarian capital Budapest will host the 2023 World Championships.

“We are particularly delighted to return to a country that has rich history and culture in track and field. I was very excited by the legacy opportunities the sport in that city will provide us and some creative marketing thinking that they already put into how to grow the sport,” said IAAF President Sebastian Coe.
During the IAAF Council meeting, former athlete Jon Ridgeon was appointed as a new chief executive officer for the athletics’ governing body. – XINHUA