Russian track and field athletics return recognition

The All-Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA), the first and main victim of the domestic doping crisis, may regain its membership in its parent structure as early as the beginning of next year, lost back in 2015. The International Federation of Athletics (World Athletics) was finally satisfied with the progress achieved by the ARAF in meeting the conditions set for it to return to status. This, however, does not mean that Russian athletes will return to top competitions with him. World Athletics is not going to lift the ban on their performance in international tournaments, imposed after the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

The fact that the International Athletics Federation in March next year will receive a recommendation to return the All-Russian Athletics Federation membership in the parent structure, said the head of the working group it created to monitor the activities of the ARAF, Rune Andersen. Explaining why the group, which had already refused to make such a recommendation more than 15 times, this time changed its mind, Mr. Andersen pointed out that with Irina Privalova acting as president of the Russian federation since last year, she was able to “introduce a new culture of good governance and zero tolerance to doping”, and also became “transparent”. “Transparency” is expressed both in the wide coverage of the activities of the ARAF, including in social networks, and in the change in its rhetoric. Rune Andersen’s group noted that now, instead of the traditional versions of an “international conspiracy”, the victims of which allegedly become Russian athletes caught doping, the federation “freely admits or rejects fraud on their part.”

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, in fact, confirmed that he considers the issue already resolved in a positive direction for the Russian side. Commenting on the words of Mr. Andersen, he said that he recognized the “progress” of the ARAF, which had “one small step” to return. After him, however, apparently, she will have to more carefully control the work in the anti-doping field.

Rune Andersen warned that in the event of a “relapse”, the federation could be deprived of membership in World Athletics no longer temporarily, but on a permanent basis.

Irina Privalova’s reaction to this news was predictable. She said that “the federation has done a great job of recovery”, that it has “fulfilled all the conditions of the” road map “” agreed with World Athletics, and also “successfully passed a large international audit”.

This is a rather remarkable event. Athletics in the past decade has become the most problematic Russian sport, the first and main victim of the doping crisis, which has caused it significant damage for a long time. Since 2015, due to doping and corruption violations, the ARAF has been in the status of a federation deprived of recognition. All this time, Russian athletes were forced to compete in international competitions in a neutral status and a greatly truncated composition, and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro were generally missed. Moreover, there was a serious risk of missing the next Olympic Games – last year in Tokyo, associated with an aggravation of the crisis due to falsifications in the doping case of high jumper Danil Lysenko and delays in paying the fine imposed by World Athletics. The Russian team, which had not competed for several months, nevertheless flew to Japan, but it was represented by only ten athletes who won two medals. Silver was won by pole vaulter Anzhelika Sidorova, gold was won by famous high jumper Maria Lasitskene.

However, the practical benefits of restoring the ARAF will actually not be so much. The fact is that in March of this year, shortly after the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, World Athletics, like the vast majority of other international sports federations, suspended Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in top competitions, refusing to allow them even under a neutral flag. . Because of this, the Russian team, in particular, missed the key competition of the season – the summer world championship in Eugene, USA. And Sebastian Coe, describing the situation, warned that only the completion of the special operation could make his organization soften its position.

Alexey Dospekhov