Mutko Slams IAAF as London 2017 Looms

(ATR) Russia’s deputy prime minister Vitaly Mutko has hit out at the IAAF for the sluggish pace of the process designed to reinstate membership of the All-Russia Athletics Federation.

Russia’s athletics body was suspended in late 2015 over the doping scandal, with the IAAF deciding last summer to ban the country completely from the Rio Games. Evidence in WADA investigator Richard McLaren’s two dossiers has highlighted the scale of a government-supported doping cover-up, which Mutko has repeatedly denied.

The IAAF in 2015 established a task force charged with helping Russia to revamp its corrupt anti-doping system to pave the way for the national federation’s reinclusion in the global athletics family.

But Mutko told Russian news agency TASS that the task force is not working quickly enough. He said the government and sports authorities "have scaled back our activities aimed at restoring the IAAF membership".

"The reason is that, on the one hand, the international association does not seem eager to restore our membership. If it was, all this could have been done much faster," he was quoted as saying.

"Until now, everything has been based on formal principles: they publish some criteria, ask questions and say we should come tomorrow. The next meeting will be held on January 23, after that a three-month pause is expected, so the process is rather slow," he added.

But Mutko said Russian athletes would be ready to face stricter doping controls carried out by international federations to prove they were clean.

The IAAF is declining to be drawn into a war of words with Mutko.

The world athletics body last week sent an updated set of guidelines to the Russian Athletics Federation for applications to compete as neutral athletes in international competitions this year. The main event is the world championships in London in the summer.

One of the criteria requires athletes to show they are not directly implicated in any way – knowingly or unknowingly – by their national federation's failure to put in place adequate systems to protect and promote clean athletes.

McLaren’s investigation team has forwarded about 200 names of Russian athletes to the IAAF. It is currently assessing the evidence and intelligence from the doping dossier and from elsewhere "in respect of any athlete who applies for neutral athlete status under the guidelines"

The IAAF’s Russia task force led by Rune Andersen is due to offer a progress report at the next IAAF Council meeting in February.

At the meeting, the track and field body said it "hopes to be able to identify a clear roadmap and timetable for RusAF’s reinstatement".

Reported by Mark Bisson

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