Russia doping crisis: Russian athletes brace themselves for global ban

Russia’s athletes will almost certainly be banned from competition with immediate effect late on Friday by a meeting of the International Association of Athletics Federations’ council.

Since the release on Monday of the World Anti-Doping Agency commission’s revelations about state-sponsored doping, IAAF president Sebastian Coe has been under increasing pressure to come down hard on Russia.

His response was to call an immediate meeting of the 27-strong council to push for sanctions to be taken that would stop all Russian athletes – whether guilty of doping or not – from competing anywhere globally.

Any ban would stay in place until Russia proves itself compliant with the Wada code, with the first event they are set to miss being the European Cross-Country Championships in France next month.

open image in gallery

On Friday night, Russia will have the chance to argue its case through its representative on the council, Mikhail Butov, but the country is bracing itself to become the fifth nation to be suspended in the 103-year history of the organisation.

The regime of President Vladimir Putin appears to have admitted that some form of sanctions are coming its way, with Wada’s independent commission recommending that the nation’s athletes be banned from all international competitions.

Putin has ordered an investigation into the allegations of widespread doping but the messages from within Russia are still mixed over whether they accept any liability for a level of corruption which commission chairman Dick Pound likened to that of the Cold War era when state-run doping was prevalent in Eastern Europe.

Neither does Russia appear to have a united plan for how to soften the severity of potential sanctions. Vadim Zelichenok, acting president of the Russian track federation, said a response had been compiled for the council, although any admission is likely to fall short of full culpability. He added: “We admit some things, we argue some things, some are already fixed. It’s a variety but it’s not for the press.”

However, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said: “The position of the special commission on doping with regards to Russian athletes looks extremely biased, politicised” before insisting that the idea of banning all Russian athletes from competing was “absolutely unacceptable”.

Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko seems to have softened his combative stance but still insisted that any suspension would be inappropriate as “it will be painful for those athletes with clean consciences who could compete”.

open image in gallery

In a separate move, the Russian bank VTB said it would cease its sponsorship of the IAAF when it expires at the end of the year, though VTB’s deputy president Vasily Titov stated: “It’s not linked to the doping scandal. We think all the goals have been achieved regarding this. We have not planned to extend.”

A police search has found €87,000 (£62,000) in cash in the south of France house of the IAAF’s former head of anti-doping, Gabriel Dollé. He was placed under formal investigation on a corruption charge earlier this month.