Russian Olympic ban upheld by IAAF

Photo: Yelena Isinbayeva insists her human rights are being violate by the Russian ban from the Olympics (Getty Images)

Russia, the country that finished second on the Athletics medal table and fourth in the overall medal standings in the London Olympics, will be missing from the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, to be held this summer in Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

That country’s track and field team had their ban from International athletics upheld on Friday following the meeting of the sport’s governing body International Athletics Association and Federation ( IAAF) in Vietnam on Friday.

Russia has been implicated in alleged, widespread state sponsored doping amongst its track and field athletes and according to IAAF Chief Lord Coe, Russia had not met readmission criteria imposed when they suspended in November last year.

Speaking at a press conference, Coe said that “Russian athletes could not credibly return to international competition without undermining the confidence of their competitors.”

Russia has become the first country in sporting history to have its athletics team banned from an Olympic games because of doping offences.

The decision, accepted unanimously by the 24 voting members of the IAAF Council, was damning and concluded that it was impossible to tell whether Russian athletes were clean or not because the system had not been sufficiently reformed.

“The deep seated culture of tolerance [or worse] for doping that got the Russian Athletics Federation [RusAF] suspended in the first place appears not to have changed materially to date,” the report said.

If any of the Russian athletes can prove and provide a clean drug bill they could compete under the International Olympic Committee (IOC) flag at the games.

Top Russian athletes, including the double Olympic Pole Vault gold medallist Yelena Isinbayeva, is saying that they will appeal.

Following the decision Isinbayeva said the Olympic ban was “discrimination against Russians” and said she would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

“This is a human rights violation. I will not remain silent, I will take measures,” she told the Tass news agency. “I’m upset for myself and the team of clean athletes who ended up out of work. No one protected us, no one defended our rights and the IAAF’s position on protecting the rights of clean athletes raises big doubts.

The Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko insists Russia “has done everything the IAAF” has asked it to do in order to be “reinstated to athletic competition” and has hinted his country could take legal action if its athletics federation is not reinstated.