Brilio.net/en - Accused of organised doping, the Russian Federation of Athletics is facing severe accusation after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report came to light. Apparently, some doping-control tests couldnt be realised in some of the closed military protected cities where the athletes are living and training. This lack of control eventually created a tidal wave of suspicion from the official.
Since then, the Russian Federation was asked by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to restore global confidence in the integrity of its team by making some efforts to better adopt international regulations. Finally, the majority of the IOCs members estimated that the efforts of Russia were not enough and the sentence was pronounced officially last week: there will be no games for Russian athletes this summer.
The IOC was reunited for an extraordinary reunion to decide about the future of the athletics team of Russia. The Olympic Games are in Rio de Janeiro in less than two months, and the decision had to be made quickly. Last week, the president of the Committee officially announced that no Russian athlete will be allowed to participate in the games.
The Russian government immediately contested the decision, pointing out that doping was an individual problem and the collective team shouldn't be dismissed based on individual actions. Some are even accusing the committee of deliberate political action. At the last Olympic Games, Russia won 8 gold medals and 10 silver and it poses a serious threat to competitors.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), a different organisation independent from the IOC, is supporting the Russian athletes that were never involved in doping during the careers. The IAAF is hoping to allow the athletes to participate without associating to a country, and instead waving the white banner. On top of that, many athletes decide to press charges and obtain the right to defend their country. So far no final decisions have been made official yet, but it seems that most likely the athletes that have never been suspected during their career will have the right to participate.
(brl/red)
