No IAAF recommendation of Russian return

The IAAF ruled that Russia had not yet done enough in eradicating doping to justify lifting a ban ahead of August's Rio Olympics.

Monaco - World athletics' governing body ruled on Friday that sporting superpower Russia had not yet done enough in eradicating doping to justify lifting a ban ahead of August's Rio Olympics.

Norwegian Rune Andersen, heading a five-person task force reviewing Russian reforms after November's suspension from global competition, said Russian athletics had made “significant progress”, including changing its president and council and developing anti-doping educational programmes.

“However, the view of the task force is that there is significant work still to be done to satsify the reinstatement conditions,” he told a news conference after a Monaco meeting of the council of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), athletics' world governing body.

“We still need to interview athletes and coaches named in the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) commission report to understand the scope and nature of previous doping activities.”

It was the report by a commission set up by WADA which led to the suspension of Russia, ranked second in athletics to the United States, and investigations into broader graft affecting also the administration of the sport.

IAAF head Sebastian Coe, appointed to oversee a broader shakeup in athletics to eradicate corruption and doping, suggested a final decision would be taken at the next scheduled council meeting in May.

Andersen expressed concern about a documentary on German TV channel ARD last week that said Russia had made little progress on reform, that coaches banned for doping were still operating in the country and officials newly-installed as part of the clean-up were tipping off athletes ahead of drugs tests.

Dick Pound, co-author of the WADA commission's report, said on Wednesday he felt the country was not showing enough urgency to make the necessary changes.

The Rio athletics programme begins on Aug. 12 but registration must be completed about a month before that, which would be too late for the vast majority of Russian athletes who would still need to record Olympic-standard qualifying times.

That means the ban would need to be lifted weeks before that deadline, some time in June or even late May.

Reuters