IAAF Provisionally Suspends Russian Federation, Athletes Currently Ineligible for Rio

(ATR) The International Association of Athletics Federations provisionally suspended the All-Russia Athletics Federation.

The decision was taken by the IAAF Council during a conference call on Nov. 13. Twenty-four Council members took part, and of those, 22 voted to suspend the ARAF. The Council ruled that ARAF was in"breach of the Objects of the IAAF," which included eradicating doping and ensuring the safety of clean athletes.

As part of the suspension Russian track and field athletes are no longer allowed to participate in any international competition. This threatens Russian track and field athletes' participation in the Rio Olympics, unless ARAF is reinstated before the Games.

In order to be reinstated, Russia will now have to fulfill a list of criteria laid out by an independent commission led by independent chair Rune Andersen and three members of the IAAF Council. The IAAF statement said that committee will be formed in the next few days.

Russia was also removed as host from the 2016 World Junior Championships in Kazan, and the 2016 World Race Walking Cup set to take place in Cheboksary.

All current outstanding doping cases involving Russian athletes must be presented to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

IAAF President Sebastian Coe said that the Council took the "toughest sanction" possible against ARAF, calling all member federations to help "rebuild trust in our sport."

"We discussed and agreed that the whole system has failed the athletes, not just in Russia, but around the world," Coe said in the statement.

"This has been a shameful wake up call and we are clear that cheating at any level will not be tolerated. To this end, the IAAF, WADA, the member federations and athletes need to look closely at ourselves, our cultures and our processes to identify where failures exist and be tough in our determination to fix them."

ARAF is permitted to a full hearing on whether the provisional suspension should become a full suspension.

On behalf of the IAAF Athletes Commission, Frankie Fredericks said in the statement"we are angry at the damage being caused to the reputation and credibility of athletics, and are united alongside our President to not shy away from the major challenges that face our sport."

Also during Friday's teleconference, Coe updated the Council on his reform efforts for IAAF, saying forensic accountants and a legal team began looking into the operations of the IAAF headquarters on Thursday.

Paul Deighton, who was CEO of LOCOG while Coe was chair of the 2012 Olympic organizing committee, will oversee the reform efforts.

The World Anti-Doping Agency conditionally suspended the Moscow anti-doping lab on Nov. 10, and says the measures taken by the international sport family are just the "tip of the iceberg."

"These are all necessary and powerful actions that will effect positive change for clean sport," Craig Reedie, WADA President, said in a statement.

"We recognize however that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that, to truly tackle the scourge of doping, the anti-doping community must further improve the approach that has been employed to date; and, above all, the resources that are attributed to it."

WADA will vote on Nov. 18 to determine if the Russian Anti-Doping Agency is code-compliant. If found not to be, Russia will no longer be able to bid for international sporting events, until deemed to be following the WADA code.

Homepage photo: Getty Images

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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