IOC Says IAAF Courageous in Russian Athletics Saga

(ATR) International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach applauds the International Association of Athletics Federation efforts to eliminate doping threats to athletics.

During the traditional joint meeting and press conference between IOC and IAAF leaders on the eve of the IAAF World Championships, Bach clarifies the different approaches taken by each of the organizations to the Russian doping scandal.

Bach said a member of the IAAF council raised the issue about Russia not being officially represented at the IAAF World Championships. The IAAF is the only federation banning Russia, although 19 athletes passed the criteria to compete as neutral athletes at the World Championships in London.

The IAAF Congress overwhelmingly voted against the request by the Russian Athletics Federation (RUSAF) for reinstatement.

Around the Rings understands that members of the IAAF Congress felt the apology by RUSAF President Dmitry Shlyakhtin was a step in the right direction, but did not go far enough.

Bach said "the complex situation" of the IOC having a different approach from the IAAF in allowing Russia to compete stems from the fact that the IAAF is the only sports organization whose former leadership was implicated in the McLaren Report as being directly tied to doping by the former Russian athletics leadership.

"Professor [Richard] McLaren made it very clear there is no other national federation or international federation of which he would have similar information of such collusive cooperation with regard to the fight against doping," Bach said.

He said the IAAF addressed this with "special measures," the ban against Russia in November 2015, which included the Rio 2016 Olympics.

"It was a courageous decision at the time," Bach said, "and it is a courageous decision to follow it through. The IOC has accepted and supported these measures from the very beginning.

"Different circumstances require different measures."

Coe briefed the IOC EB on where he felt Russia stands on its way back to reinstatement.

He expressed his comfort that Shlyakhtin was prepared to "acknowledge the turbulence that they had to deal with." An independent task force is working on the issue.

Coe said the challenge is coming up with "the best roadmap for normalizing that situation" of Russia returning.

"There are still some mile markers to meet," Coe said, "But we are making progress."

He added that the object is to make sure that when those athletes do return to international competition under the Russian flag and not as neutral athletes, it is in a way "that’s not remotely jeopardizing the ambitions of clean athletes".

He said the two guiding principle of the IAAF are 1) that it has done everything it could to separate clean athletes from a tainted system and 2) that the IAAF supported the decision by the IOC that allows federations to take individual approaches, which underpins the primacy of the federations to determine eligibility.

For instance, reigning world champions Mariya Kuchina (high jump) and Sergey Shubenkov (110-meter hurdles) of Russia will compete in IAAF World Championships this week as neutral athletes after approval of the IAAF. If they win gold, the Olympic anthem would be played instead of the Russian anthem.

As for the next Olympic Games in PyeongChang, Bach said he "cannot speculate" on whether or not Russia will compete and that it is not a personal issue for him.

Two commissions are working on the situation. "I hope it happens soon to have clarity," Bach said.

Written by Karen Rosen in London.

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