Russian track and field athletes banned from Rio Olympics by IAAF

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/rio-2016/2016/06/17/iaaf-upholds-ban-russian-track-and-field-team-rio-olympics/85994148/

Quote:Russia’s track and field athletes will not be able to compete in the Rio Olympics, the International Association of Athletics Federations decided on Friday.



In a historic decision, the IAAF voted to extend a ban of the All Russian Athletics Federation that has kept its athletes out of international competition since a World Anti-Doping Agency independent commission report released in November concluded Russia was running a state-sponsored doping program in athletics.


In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Sport said it was disappointed and thought it did everything it could to meet the IAAF’s conditions for re-entry.
“Clean athletes’ dreams are being destroyed because of the reprehensible behaviour of other athletes and officials,” the statement said, in part. “They have sacrificed years of their lives striving to compete at the Olympics and now that sacrifice looks likely to be wasted.”


The IAAF’s decision is almost certain to be challenged. Last month, Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, said she would file a discrimination case in the court for human rights.


It’s unclear whether the International Olympic Committee could amend the IAAF’s decision. The IOC is set to hold a summit on Tuesday to " address the difficult decision between collective responsibility and individual justice." President Thomas Bach said the IOC will have a zero-tolerance policy on doping, but he has declined to elaborate about what that means regarding a potentially broader ban of Russia entirely


Despite the challenges ahead, the IAAF’s decision comes as cries for Russia to be banned have intensified in recent weeks.
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USA TODAY

Russia makes last-minute plea for readmission of track team

[url=http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2016/06/17/iaaf-convenes-meeting-on-whether-to-readmit-russian-athletes/86026064/]
WADA is conducting another investigation into doping at the Sochi Olympics after Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of the Moscow lab, alleged in the New York Times last month that he had not only doped Russian athletes at the Games but that he swapped out the urine in those doping samples with the assistance of someone he believed to be from Russia’s security service.


WADA expects that report to be completed by July 15.


Should the IOC ultimately decide to ban Russia, a decision that likely wouldn’t come until the investigation concludes, it would be unprecedented in the history of the Games. No country has been banned for a sport violation.


But evidence has mounted against Russia in the past 18 months.


Whistleblowers Vitaly and Yuliya Stepanov first shared evidence of widespread doping in a documentary aired by German broadcaster ARD in December 2014. By then, Vitaly Stepanov, a Russian Anti-Doping Agency employee, had been corresponding with WADA since 2010.


Yuliya Stepanova, an 800-meter runner, joined her husband’s efforts, providing secretly recorded audio and video conversations, emails and text messages that formed the basis of the independent commission report.


The independent commission report also revealed corruption in the highest levels of the IAAF, with then president Lamine Diack being among several officials implicated for accepting bribes from Russia to cover up positive drug tests.


Following the release of the report, WADA has declared RUSADA non-compliant. Both the ARAF and RUSADA have been given guidelines of how to come into compliance.


In its decision to extend the ban in athletics, the IAAF acknowledged that Russia’s track federation had fallen short of criteria established by its inspection team.


Information released by WADA on Wednesday suggested the country is still obstructing and avoiding drug testing. WADA brought in UK Anti-Doping to help with testing, but the agency has only been able to conduct 455 tests since mid-February. A total of 736 tests were declined or canceled as doping control officers have seen athletes avoid them or pull out of competition. Doping officers also have been prevented from testing athletes training in military cities.


The IAAF’s ban of Russia comes as the anti-doping community has debated for months about the appropriate sanctions for doping violations broader than any the sports world has seen since East Germany in the 1970s and '80s.


Many, including U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart, called for meaningful sanctions for Russia in light of the pervasiveness of doping revealed in the independent commission report.



In that report, the independent commission wrote, “The IC expects that at least part of the response to this Report will be a predictable concern that some ‘innocent’ athletes may be excluded from participation in competitions if the recommendations in the Report are adopted by the appropriate organizations. ‘Innocent’ athletes, around the world and in Russia, are already suffering as a result of the conduct identified in this Report: they need protection. The root cause of any non-participation is not the Report, but rather the unacceptable conduct of those responsible for the situation giving rise to the IC investigation and Report. It is they who must assume the responsibility for their actions.”