World Athletics maintains its position: there will be no Russians or Belarusians at the Olympic Games

Since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions as neutrals and individually so as not to “discriminate by passport”, little by little the different Federations have been reinstating them. However, World Athletics remained firm in its position not to modify the sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

After the IOC enabled athletes from Russia and Belarus to attend the Olympic Games, World Athletics clarified that they will not participate in athletics and the president, Sebastian Coe, explained: “The most important thing is that people understand the autonomy and independence of the Federations to make these judgments. Federations have the power to identify the eligibility of athletes who can compete and we make the decision we believe in for this sport and it is in the best interest of it.”

“I understand that there are other Federations that, for whatever reason, see this differently. There is no change because of our perspective,” said the Briton, stressing whether he could change his opinion in the future: “I don’t know. I’m not sitting on any throne of truth and the world changes every five minutes. It could change.”

“We have a working group that monitors the situation and we will have information on what circumstances need to change for any type of exclusion to be lifted. Here we are, but as far as Paris is interested, there is no change,” Coe confirmed.

The future of race walk at the Olympic Games

Another topic that Coe referred to, at a virtual conference with international media, was the future of the race walk and he announced that it will continue to be part of the Olympic program in Los Angeles 2028.

“The discipline will be in Los Angeles and also in Paris, but with an adaptation, with relays. Some people from my federation were recently with race walkers and at that meeting, the relay event was talked about very well,” said the president of World Athletics.

In the next Olympic Games, the 20-kilometer test will continue, but the 50-kilometer race will become a marathon (42 km) and mixed. “The IOC is not interested in a race war and that’s the problem. I think that those countries that are interested in a war will have to talk about it with their federations and possibly also with the members of the IOC. As far as World Athletics is concerned, we are going to the next two Olympic Games and the World Championships, and relays are in demand. It’s an adaptation that had to be made due to the circumstances of the Games,” said Coe.

Marathon records, the “shoe war” and the role of World Athletics

2023 in athletics will highlight the world records achieved in the marathon by both the Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum and the Ethiopian Tigist Assefa. The races are getting faster and the debate regarding the type of shoes used by marathon runners has once again revived. They even caused a change in World Athletics.

“We have an evaluation team for that topic. This is the first time that sports have a group of people evaluating shoes and we work side by side with footwear companies so that there is a balance,” Coe explained, adding: “We are not an organization that wants to strangle innovation. No society or civilization has survived that kind of control, but we are also a regulatory body and we have a responsibility for controls and limits, especially around mechanical advantage because no company is researching or developing equipment that produces shoes that make you run less.”

“We want to be aware of what comes out of these developments. There will never be a perfect system, but we want to at least be certain about the depth of the soles, the compounds, the fibers, all that,” said the Briton. Will 2024 be the year in which the two hours will be lowered?