Russia's athletes are excluded from the world federation IAAF and may therefore not participate as a separate team at the beginning of Friday World Championships in Doha. As the IAAF announced after its Council meeting on Monday, the Russian Federation Rusaf, suspended since November 2015 because of the doping scandal, will not be resumed for the time being.
"It can be said quite clearly that Russia has not met the conditions for readmission," said Rune Andersen, head of the IAAF inspection team. Also in the beginning of Friday in the capital Qatar World Cup, the 29 nominated Russians must start under a neutral flag.
"Long discussion" at the IAAF
IAAF President Sebastian Coe said: "That did not surprise me, we had a long discussion in the Council today about it." The decision was finally unanimous. She also relies on the data that the world association has received from the World Anti-Doping Agency Wada, Task Force Chief Andersen said. "We do not have the facts yet, but we trust the information." Already last March, the IAAF had rejected the resumption of Russia.
The IAAF is the last international sports organization that has not lifted the ban on Russia in November 2015.
Russian athletes are currently only allowed to compete in international competitions after thorough IAAF testing as so-called "neutral athletes". The last Russian team to date participated in a major international event at the 2015 World Cup in Beijing.
For Doha, 29 "neutral athletes" are registered, who are Russian citizens. The best-known athlete in this group is Marija Lassizkene, the reigning world champion in the high jump.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S7UVDTX7DREC7DXVCZN6MEKGBY.jpg)
