Russia has been provisionally suspended from all international athletics competitions by the IAAF.
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The move, which comes after last week’s revelations by the World Anti-Doping Agency, was passed almost unanimously in a vote of IAAF Council members on Friday night.
Of 23 eligible council members, 22 voted in favour of the sanction with one voting against. The member for Russia was ineligible to vote.
There was no guarantee that Russia will be reinstated before next year’s Olympics with a wide range of criteria set out for them to meet before being allowed to return.
“Today we have been dealing with the failure of ARAF (All-Russia Athletic Federation) and made the decision to provisionally suspend them, the toughest sanction we can apply at this time,” IAAF president Sebastian Coe said.
“But we discussed and agreed that the whole system has failed the athletes, not just in Russia, but around the world. This has been a shameful wake-up call and we are clear that cheating at any level will not be tolerated.”
The ban means athletes from Russia may not enter international competitions, including the World Athletic Series and Rio Olympics, which begin on 5 August next year.
Russia will also not be entitled to host the 2016 World Race Walking Cup in Cheboksary and the 2016 World Juniors in Kazan.
Prior to the news of the IAAF provisionally suspended Russia’s Athletics federation, pole vault world record holder, and one of Russia’s most decorated athletes, Yelena Isinbayeva, wrote an open letter.
“Throughout my sports career, I honestly worked, trained, won world championships and the Olympic Games, broke world records,” said the 33-year-old, who won bronze at London 2012.
“All my victories are honest, clean and well-deserved. I urge you not to align all athletes with the same brush.”
