Zhukov: Russia Ban Could Bring Olympic Movement to Destruction

(ATR) Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov made his plea to the International Olympic Committee to allow clean Russian athletes to compete at Rio 2016.

On Friday, the IAAF Council decided to bar the Russian track and field federation from competing in the Games due to the country's tainted anti-doping systems.

On Tuesday, Zhukov told IOC executive board members and other key stakeholders of the Olympic Movement that the decision contradicted the values of the Olympic Movement and was "legally indefensible".

Zhukov says the ROC will support athletes in their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn the IAAF decision.

Read Zhukov's speech in its entirety below:

President Bach, members of the International Olympic Committee, esteemed colleagues!

We are here at today’s Olympic Summit to discuss a crucial moment which can strengthen or weaken the Olympic Movement, bringing it to destruction.

It is a matter of individual or collective responsibility of athletes from those countries where anti-doping rules are being violated. The protection of the rights of clean athletes also needs to be discussed.

First of all, I want to assure you, the Russian Olympic Committee has a zero tolerance policy on all forms of doping and, like the IOC, is 100% committed to protecting clean athletes. We are supported in that commitment by all the relevant authorities in Russia, starting with the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and the Parliament of the Russian Federation.

For this reason, we are extremely disappointed by the decision of the IAAF Council to ban Russian track and field athletes from international competition, including the Olympic Games in Rio. We consider it unfair on the vast majority of our athletes who have never doped and have not violated any criteria. Moreover, they have had dozens of samples checked by independent (foreign) anti-doping authorities; and have fought honestly for the right to compete at the Olympic Games.

In its decision the IAAF refers to its distrust of the Russian anti-doping system, and therefore questions the innocence of Russian athletes. However, it should be pointed out that over the last few months when the Russian anti-doping agency (RUSADA) stopped its activities and the Russian anti-doping laboratory lost its accreditation, - Russia was under the control of the UK anti-doping Agency and International Doping Tests & Management (IDTM). Samples were sent and tested in foreign laboratories in Cologne and Lausanne. So the question arises: which anti-doping system is it that the IAAF does not trust?

Out of the several thousand samples taken from Russian athletes in and out of competition over this period, only 3 turned out to be positive, including one in athletics, for substances other than Meldonium; Meldonium was found in 49 samples. Meldonium was added to the WADA list of prohibited substances on the 1st of January, 2016 and by WADA’s own admission, the long term residual effects on the body have not yet been clinically assessed by professional authorities. The results of this research have not yet been published. And it should be a separate topic for a very serious discussion.

The remaining cases of anti-doping violations, described in the WADA report, cannot be applied to athletes included in a testing pool of potential participants in the Olympic Games representing Russia. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the WADA report came a day before the meeting of the IAAF Council, thus depriving Russia of any opportunity to comment on the reported results.

The ROC established the Interim Coordination Committee with the sole remit of cooperating with WADA and the IAAF Taskforce to ensure Russian athletics’ compliance with the WADA Code. Much work has been done. According to the head of the IAAF Taskforce Rune Andersen, I quote: "As a result of the enormous efforts and professionalism of Mr. Aleshin of the Russian Olympic Committee, RusAF president Mr Shlyakhtin, and their colleagues, there has been significant progress towards satisfaction of the Verification Criteria to date".

A new RusAF administration was elected in which there are no people with a history of doping. All the coaches and specialists involved in the doping allegations were suspended. All athletes who have doped were suspended. A very difficult and unprecedented decision for our country was made by RusAF not to include athletes with a doping history in the Olympic team. President Putin instructed the Russian Government to cooperate with the IOC, WADA and the IAAF in all anti-doping investigations.

Further evidence of the Russian authorities’ commitment to the fight against doping came as the Russian State Duma adopted a draft law initiating legislation which would introduce criminal liability and imprisonment for athletes’ entourages who use or supply substances prohibited in sport.

So, despite all the work that has been done and the fact that many Russian athletes have been repeatedly tested (significantly more than athletes from other countries) and have proven to be clean, they will be deprived of their dream and life goal – to participate in the Olympic Games. They will be punished for the sins of others.

Ms. Bokel said that this is fair in respect to the clean athletes from other countries. Do you really think it is fair to make it impossible for Elena Isinbayeva and Sergey Shubenkov to participate in the Olympic Games which will be attended by Tyson Gay and twice disqualified for doping Justin Gatlin?

From the perspective of Russian athletes, it is an extreme injustice and humiliation. And just imagine – in the absence of athletes who never violated any rules – how cynical Yulia Stepanova’s participation will be, after she was disqualified for doping some time ago.

The IAAF Council "kindly", so to speak, permitted individual athletes to apply for permission to compete in international competitions only if they can clearly and convincingly show that they are, I quote, "not tainted by the Russian system because they have been outside the country, and subject to other, effective anti-doping systems, including effective drug-testing. They must compete not for Russia, but as a "neutral" athlete."

I would like to know who those mysterious athletes are and how Russian athletes, who have been suspended from participation in all international competitions, can meet these requirements. And who can be called a "neutral" athlete? And how can this athlete compete at the Olympics if not being included in the application of his or her National Olympic Committee?

Dear colleagues, please have no doubt that Russian Olympic Committee shares the objectives of everyone in this room – to protect the clean athlete, and preserve the integrity of sport, in line with the principles of the Olympic Charter and Olympic Agenda 2020. Athletes, not organizations or countries, are at the heart of the Olympic Movement.

Banning clean athletes from the Rio Olympic Games contradicts the values of the Olympic Movement and violates the principles of the Olympic Charter; it is also legally indefensible and devalues their competitors’ success.

The Russian athletes who have never violated anti-doping rules and RusAF will appeal to CAS in order to protect the interests and rights of all athletes who have proven their innocence and have not used prohibited substances or methods. The Russian Olympic Committee supports these appeals and will also challenge the IAAF Council decision regarding the rights of the NOC in order to prevent the violation of the Olympic Charter. And we hope that CAS will make an objective, fair and lawful decision, in spite of the already publicly announced position of its President.

Dear friends! I am here as the President of the Russian Olympic Committee and I want to confirm our readiness and wish to cooperate with the IOC and the International Federations in the fight against doping. We all should offer a balanced and fair solution that will protect the rights of the athletes. A solution that will protect the unity of the Olympic Movement in the eyes of the world, watching us on the eve of the most important sporting event on the planet.

Thank you, dear colleagues, for your kind attention to this long speech, but I needed to bring our position to your attention.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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