Russian Athletics Still Out in the Cold

(ATR) The IAAF extends its ban on the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) into 2019.

The IAAF Council accepted the IAAF Russia taskforce’s recommendations that RusAF will not be reinstated until two conditions are met.

The taskforce chairman Rune Andersen explained the two requirements to reporters on Tuesday in Monaco after the Council meeting.

"The Athletics Integrity Unit must confirm it has been given all of the data and access to the samples that it needs to determine which of the Russian athletes in the LIMS database have a case to answer for breach of the IAAF anti-doping rules," Andersen said.

"The IAAF Council was clear that Russian athletes cannot return to international competition unconditionally until that issue is resolved one way or the other.

"Secondly, RusAF must pay all of the costs incurred in the work of the taskforce and in bringing or defending Russian cases at CAS. The IAAF Council was clear that this debt must be settled for reinstatement to occur. It is not fair to ask the IAAF and its other members to continue to carry these costs."

RusAF was suspended in November 2015 in response to the World Anti-Doping Agency report that revealed widespread doping.

WADA reinstated the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) in September, a controversial decision that also came with conditions. Russia must recognize the findings of the WADA reports on the systemic doping in the country and also must allow WADA representatives full access to the suspended Moscow laboratory by December 31.

Andersen says the Russians have not given any assurances that the data will be delivered to the IAAF directly.

"We will have to rely on receiving the data from WADA and then we give it to the Athletics Integrity Unit to examine the data before we are satisfied that the data is correct data and hasn’t been tampered with," Andersen said.

As for the IAAF receiving compensation for the costs involved in investigating Russian doping, Andersen said "We have got assurances that the Russians will pay. We need to receive the money before that condition is met."

The IAAF says that through the end of June, the Russians owed 2.7 million Euro ($3.07 million) with additional invoices still to be filed.

Andersen says "the taskforce stands ready to meet as soon as these conditions have been met in order to make a recommendation to Council for the reinstatement of RusAF".

IAAF President Sebastian Coe was asked how quickly RusaAF could be brought back into the fold should they meet the two outstanding criteria.

"Our next council meeting is in March but the taskforce is in what I would describe as permanent monitoring and reactive mode so we will see how events unfold."

Written by Gerard Farek

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