by Larry Eder
Lushniki Stadium, photo by PhotoRun.net
MOSCOW (RUS): All-Russia Athletics Federation Acting President Vadim Zelichenok confirmed their response to the allegations of corruption and doping cover-ups published in the World Anti-Doping Agency Independent Commission were sent to IAAF. But insisted they were not guilty of systematic violations and should not be banned from the sport. AP informs that ARAF says it will partially admit to the charges leveled against it by the World Anti-Doping Agency commission. Zelichenok says that in the response ”we admit some things, we argue with some things, some are already fixed, it’s a variety,” but declined to provide further details, saying ”it’s not for the press.” The IAAF Council will meet via conference call on Friday, ARAF general secretary Mikhail Butov is the member of the council.
MOSCOW (RUS): Russian Sport minister Vitaliy Mutko declared that Russia is not going to boycott Olympic Games 2016 even if Russian athletics team is suspended from Rio. “Russia is against the boycott and against political interference in sport. We are not going to boycott anything anywhere. Russia is a reliable partner of the international Olympic movement,”said Mutko. Informs R-Sport.
MOSCOW (RUS): After the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin dedicated to preparation for Rio Olympics, head of Russian NOC Aleksander Zhukov stressed that Russia would fight for its athletes to take part in the Olympic Games 2016. According to him, the deprivation of such a possibility would be a violation of athletes rights. “Now the important thing is to protect our clean athletes, they should not be punished through no fault of their own. We know what is the task before us,” Zhukov said to national media. AIPS informs that he arrived in Lausanne at lunchtime on Thursday, set to commence a diplomatic offensive to salvage the image of the nation.
KYIV (UKR): Two Ukrainian athletics legends IOC Council member, IAAF Vice President Sergey Bubka and IOC member, two-time Olympic champion Valeriy Borzov insist that innocent athletes must never experience a repeat of the Los Angeles Games. “What I experienced in 1984, along with a number of other athletes, must never happen again. Many promising athletes never got the chance to compete for an Olympic medal after that. We have a responsibility to protect clean athletes from any form of mass exclusion, we cannot punish them. As IAAF and key stakeholders in the world of sport, we must act. In full cooperation with WADA, which in turn relies on the full support of governments, national associations and Olympic committees, we must go through this case by case, person by person. And we must remember that this scandal does not just concern athletes, this is a case of entire entourages behind them, which must be stopped,” said Bubka in his quote to AIPS web. “I don’t support such sanctions as suspension of whole national federations from Olympic Games. In such case, innocent athletes can become the victims. Such decisions can change cardinally not only their careers but all their lives as well. We already had boycott examples in Moscow and Los Angeles,” said Borzov to Russian media.
MONACO (MON): IAAF published a statement about Russian bank VTB ending its partnership with the IAAF. VTB has expressed no interest to extend its present contract, the last event of which was the IAAF World Championships in Beijing. The contract will come to a natural end in 2015, writes the IAAF. VTB first deputy president Vasily Titov says the end of the partnership deal with governing body of track and field is not related to the Russian doping scandal, writes AP.
LAUSANNE (SUI): Amidst the doping and corruption scandal rocking the Russian athletics federation and all of international sport, IOC president Thomas Bach spoke to members of the media about the International Olympic Committee’s dedication to clean athletes. In his comments following WADA’s International Commisson report unveiled on Monday, Bach pointed to a future of anti-doping tests becoming independent from sports federations. The IOC president also expressed his confidence that the IAAF and its new leadership headed by Lord Sebastian Coe will take the necessary measures in dealing with the Russian Athletics Federation and the implicated athletes.The IAAF has scheduled an extraordinary meeting and teleconference with the media for this Friday, with Bach adding that certain decisions are set to be revealed. Writes AIPS.
MOSCOW (RUS): Head coach of Russian athletics team Yuriy Borzakovskiy informed that all athletes of national team are continuing their preparation for next season aiming to perform in Rio. “Certainly, they feel huge pressure. It’s too difficult to prepare for Games and don’t know whether you will be there or no. But nobody from the team gives up. This generation of athletes in no way to blame. Why the current team should be suspended if we recall the past years?” said Borzakovskiy to national media.
MOSCOW (RUS): The Ethics Commission of Russian Olympic Committee recommended to Valentin Balakhnichev to resign from the position of the executive committee member of the organization. “Guided by the provisions of the IOC Code of Ethics, according to which the Olympic parties shall refrain from acts that could tarnish the reputation of the Olympic movement, the Ethics Commission of the Russian Olympic Committee prepared a draft decision, according to which Valentin Balakhnichev recommended to resign the ROC executive committee’s membership,” says the decision.
PARIS (FRA): Walking World record holder and European champion Yohann Diniz spoke with L´Équipe about the current issues. “I’m only half surprised. As an athlete, we knew that there was a system linked to doping around the Russians. The other side is that the IAAF involved…On the starting line, we fight against people who are doped but if on top of that, they are covered by the International Federation, that is really very serious. It deserves very heavy sanctions already for the Russian Federation and then back to the IAAF,” he said among other.
LAUSANNE (SUI): Lausanne Laboratory Director Martial Saugy has defended his lab’s destruction of samples, explaining that they were just following procedure, report 24 Heures. Saugy said that samples are often destroyed after the tests are undertaken, as they do not have the storage capacity to keep them all. Saugy explained, “Contrary to what is stated in the report, we have not received any indications ordering us to keep these samples on the long term. The huge majority of the 250,000 tests we conduct every year are destroyed after three months. We do not have the storage capacity or the budget to keep them.” Reuters report that the Lausanne hospital, where the lab is based, would carry out an audit to shed full light on the matter.
