The decision by WADA to reinstate RUSADA has had a huge response. The following statement is from the IAAF, who was the primary global federation to object rot the doping policies of Russia and ban them from the global sports wold. While the IOC must have been pleased by WADA’s decision, they have a much bigger problem now: some very visible global federations who object to the WADA decision.
The IAAF has its own set of criteria for the reinstatement of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) which it laid out in 2015 when the federation was suspended. The progress against the reinstatement criteria has been overseen by the Independent Taskforce, chaired by Rune Andersen and including members of the IAAF Council.
Andersen and his taskforce will review the decision made by WADA and the conditions set by WADA over the next few weeks and check RusAF progress on other criteria still outstanding. The taskforce will then compile their report with a recommendation and present this to the IAAF Council at the beginning of December. It is then for Council to discuss and decide any actions.
The reinstatement of RUSADA was one of three pre-conditions set out in the IAAF Taskforce’s recommendations to the July council meeting. The other two pre-conditions agreed by the council are:
- The Russian authorities must acknowledge the findings of the McLaren and Schmid Commissions that Ministry of Sport officials were implicated in the scheme to cover up the doping of Russian athletes as described in their reports; and
- The Russian authorities must provide access to the data from testing of samples at the Moscow lab from 2011 to 2015, so that the Athletics Integrity Unit can determine whether the suspicious findings reported in the Moscow lab’s LIMS database should be pursued.
IAAF President Sebastian Coe said: “These two pre-conditions and any other outstanding conditions which are required for RusAF’s reinstatement will need to be discussed by the taskforce before any recommendation is put to the council. The setting of our own criteria and the process of evaluating progress against these criteria has served the sport of athletics well over the last three years so we will continue to rely on the taskforce and our clear roadmap for RusAF reinstatement until we are satisfied that the conditions have been met.”
IAAF
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