by Alfonz JuckWell, in Middle American english, the Russian Federation has “screwed the pooch”. Never penitent, the Federation is about to be disintegrated. I am not sure if the a couple federations in Africa will be next.
The Russian Federation has become the focal point of much ire. Stay tuned.
RUSSIA CASE
MONACO (MON): The Athletics Integrity Unit has recommended the Russian Athletics Federation be expelled as members of World Athletics. Following the AIU’s review of charges of submission of forged documents and false explanations in connection with the whereabouts failures case of Russian athlete Danil Lysenko, the organisation has referred the case to the world body. It has also recommended the continued pausing of the authorised neutral athlete programme in the case of the Russian federation, which has been suspended since 2015. The AIU therefore recommends that the charges be referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to resolve, and (if the CAS upholds the charges) that the Council ‘consider imposing the severest possible consequences, including considering the expulsion of RusAF from the membership of World Athletics’.
MONACO (MON): The charges brought by the AIU against RusAF for breach of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules are extremely serious, says World Athletics. Once RusAF has responded to the charges against it, the AIU refers those charges to Council, along with any recommendation that the AIU decides to make about the way forward, for Council to make a decision. If RusAF continues to deny the charges, under Article 84.1(b) of the Constitution it is for CAS to resolve the dispute. If CAS upholds the charges, the matter would come back to Council to consider what sanctions to impose. At that point, Council would also consider whether to start the process for Congress to consider expulsion of RusAF. But Word Athletics says in a statement, the Constitution also provides an option for reasonable steps to be taken to try to resolve the dispute before resorting to CAS. Therefore, as a first step, World Athletics will send a letter to the acting RusAF President and to the new Russian Minister for Sport. It will say if they maintain their current ‘blanket denials’ approach, World Athletics will put all necessary resource into presenting the charges to the CAS. Council will not consider any applications for ‘authorised neutral athlete’ status in the meantime. But if on the other hand RusAF and its former officials admit the charges, at Council’s meeting next month, council will decide (with the benefit of recommendations from the joint committee of Taskforce and DRB members) on a new process for Russian athletes to apply for ‘authorised neutral athlete’ status moving forward and council will consider what sanctions should be imposed for RusAF’s breach of the Anti-Doping Rules. That would not include, at that stage, any proposal to expel RusAF from membership; and Council will also decide on a new process for the reinstatement of RusAF, which may include new elements to bring about the necessary changes.
MOSCOW (RUS): Former IAAF Council member Mikhail Butov will try for the post of RusAF president. He was nominated by the Sverdlovsk regional athletics federation, informs TASS. Butov served as RusAF secretary general for 15 years, until 2017, and participated in the last presidential election in 2016, but lost to Dmitriy Shlyakhtin. In November 2019, Butov has stepped down from the federation presidium due to his disagreement with the policy and working methods of the current governing body.
