Russian Track and Field Federation will do everything it can to enable Russia athletes to compete at 2016 Rio Olympics - Butov
MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) - Russia's Track and Field Federation will make every effort to provide Russian track and field athletes with an opportunity to take part in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil, the federation's Secretary General Mikhail Butov has said.
"I would like to stress once again that our absolutely priority is to give an opportunity to our athletes to compete at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro under the Russian flag. We will do everything we can to make this a reality," Butov was quoted as saying by the federation's press service.
The Russian Olympic Committee's executive committee made a decision at its session on Wednesday to establish a temporary committee of the Russian Olympic Committee to coordinate interaction with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and ongoing reforms at the Russian Track and Field Federation, he said.
Gennady Alyoshin, one of Russia's most experienced sports functionaries and co-chairman of the Russian Committee of National and Non-Olympic Sports, has been appointed to head the temporary committee. Alyoshin also represents Russia in managing the UNESCO anti-doping fund.
"The new structure will act as a coordinator. Acting President Vadim Zelichenok and I represented our federation at the session of the Russian Olympic Committee executive committee. We presented our action plan and spoke about our vision of this problem and the anti-doping measures that had already been taken, including even before the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) commission's report was published," Butov said.
The provisional committee will not substitute the federation's management, Butov said. Rather, its task is to help the Russian Track and Field Federation to implement its reforms and take steps to return to the IAAF on the basis of the principles outlined in the IAAF's press release, which was published on Thursday.
"The committee will cooperate with the commission established directed by the Russian Track and Field Federation. We will discuss the criteria for situation assessments by the IAAF commission at a session of the IAAF Council on March 26," Butov said.
On Thursday, the IAAF published the principles that would govern an inspection of the Russian Track and Field Federation by a specialized commission. In particular, the inspection will assess how accurately and promptly disciplinary measures are taken with regard to track and field athletes, coaches, teams' staff, doctors and other persons found in breach of anti-doping roles. Furthermore, the IAAF demands the establishment of a transparent, effective and time-efficient system to crack down on doping and wants the contract system for coaches to be changed and measures to be taken to reduce the incentives to use doping.
