Russia Lobbies for Rio Olympic Inclusion as IOC Deal Looms

(ATR) With the IAAF ruling on Russia less than 48 hours away, the country’s sports ministry tells Around the Rings its "clean athletes" should not be punished with a ban from the Rio Olympics.

The 27-member IAAF Council meets in Vienna on Friday to decide whether to maintain or remove its ban on the All-Russian Athletic Federation.

"We are doing everything we can to eradicate doping from sport in Russia," a spokesperson for the ministry told ATR on Wednesday, echoing previous statements in the campaign for reinstatement.

"We firmly believe that clean athletes who have dedicated years of their lives to training and who have not sought to gain an unfair advantage through doping should not be punished for the actions of others."

In recent weeks, more than 20 Russian athletes tested positive for banned drugs in retests of samples from the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympics, triggering fresh calls for Russia to be banned from the Rio Games.

IAAF president Sebastian Coe and his colleagues will base their June 17 decision around the final report of the task force on Russian doping led by Rune Andersen. The commission is evaluating Russia’s progress in overhauling its corrupt anti-doping system exposed in the damning WADA Independent Commission report which alleged state-sponsored doping and cover-ups. The IAAF suspended Russia from international competition in November.

Russia has since announced a series of reforms in a bid to have the ban lifted, including handing over independent testing of its athletes to Britain’s anti-doping agency UKAD, following WADA’s decision to pull RUSADA’s accreditation. Other measures include creation of a new supervisory board "to oversee reforms and restore trust" in the Russian Anti-Doping Agency. Russia has also introduced stricter penalties for doping, making it a criminal offense. The government said it will launch an education program on anti-doping for schools from next year.

But it’s Russia’s commitment to the "additional testing regime" it vows to implement for athletes hoping to compete in Rio that may hold particular sway in decisions being made by the IAAF and IOC in the coming days.

Whether the Russian athletics federation is banned or not, the IOC is working on a compromise deal. A meeting of Olympic Movement stakeholders on June 21 in Lausanne will address the eligibility issue. Discussions may lead to an agreement to allow ‘clean’ Russian track and field athletes to take part in Rio.

IOC president Thomas Bach has spoken in recent weeks about "a decision we have to make between collective responsibility and individual justice", signaling a reluctance to ban the entire Russian athletics team from Rio.

The IOC may seek to beef up the "additional testing" plan Russia is working on in partnership with WADA. How it works, who is tested and when, are the key questions. Under the current plan, Russia’s athletes will undergo a minimum of three additional anti-doping controls carried out by the IAAF before the Rio Games begin.

A Wednesday statement by the European Olympic Committees athletes’ commission appeared to preempt a possible IOC compromise deal.

"The EOC Athletes’ Commission recognizes that to pursue those who cheat effectively may mean taking difficult decisions between collective responsibility and individual justice," the statement said. "It is therefore important that the rights of individual athletes are weighed properly against the responsibility of an IF or an NOC."

"This may lead to athletes deemed ‘at risk’ having to demonstrate that their international and independently proven test record is compliant with the rules of their IF and the World Anti-Doping Code in order to guarantee a level playing field with their fellow competitors.

"This is an appropriate course of action which the EOC Athletes’ Commission fully supports," it added.

Written by Mark Bisson

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