IAAF Votes on Russian Track & Field Participation at RIO

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) will vote on June 17, 2016 on whether the Russian track & field team will be allowed to compete at the Rio Olympics.

A query into the Russian team’s potential doping usage was risen by former White House Drug Spokesman Robert Weiner and senior sports policy analyst Ben Lasky in the Salt Lake Tribune. The wrote that the Russian track & field team should eb barred from competition in Rio this August, and at a minimum be tested a month and three days before the Games- citing the country’s refusal to clean up its sport as a primary reason.

“Rio this summer could turn out to be the dirtiest Olympics,” Weiner and Lasky said.

They state, “A documentary on German TV station ARD showed that Russian coaches who have been banned for doping still have their jobs, and claimed that Russian officials are tipping off athletes prior to what are supposed to be random drug tests. Sebastian Coe, the British gold medal runner who now is President of IAAF, told Reuters, ‘We discussed the contents of that program, and the task force members are very concerned and investigating further.’ Just last week, the former head of Russia’s sports doping lab alleged that at least 15 Russian athletes tested positive from the last Olympics in Sochi, with Russian authorities arranging for masking performance drugs in alcoholic drinks and switching urine samples in the testing room.”

The final decision on Russia’s track and field participation will be made on June 17 by the IAAF, the world track governing body.

Back in Nov. 2015, the IOC and the IAAF voted for Russia’s ban subject to developments. “USA Track & Field (USATF) is an important member of IAAF. The world organizations and we should vote to keep the ban,” Weiner and Lasky said.

Robert Weiner was spokesman for the White House National Drug Policy Office and directed WADA media outreach at the Salt Lake Olympics and White House Olympic drug media at Sydney. He assisted in creation of WADA and USADA. Ben Lasky is sports policy analyst at Solutions for Change.