Russia offered route back to compete in Rio after BAN from Olympics as athletics federation is suspended

Russia’s national athletics federation have been suspended from competition after being accused of running a state-sponsored doping programme.

But new IAAF president Seb Coe said the ‘whole system has failed the athletes around the world’. He branded it a ‘shameful wake-up call’ for the sport.

An explosive independent report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency and published on Monday exposed the Russians, with evidence of a Moscow-testing laboratory that even destroyed samples.

After a conference call meeting on Friday night involving 24 members of the 27-strong IAAF council Coe, at his London office, announced that the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) had been provisionally suspended with immediate effect. Twenty-two voted in favour of the sanction, with one voting against. The council member from Russia, who pleaded ARAF’s case as part of the meeting, was not eligible to vote.

Coe said: ‘Today we have been dealing with the failure of ARAF and made the decision to provisionally suspend them, the toughest sanction we can apply at this time. 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. To this end, the IAAF, WADA, the member federations and athletes need to look closely at ourselves, our cultures and our processes to identify where failures exist and be tough in our determination to fix them and rebuild trust in our sport. There can be no more important focus for our sport.’

The suspension prevents Russian athletes from participating in international competitions including ‘World Athletic Series competitions and the Olympic Games’. Russia will also ‘not be entitled to host the 2016 World Race Walking Cup and 2016 World Junior Championships.

But what may disappoint observers is the clear offer of a road back before next summer’s Olympic Games in Rio.

As the IAAF statement said: ‘To regain membership to the IAAF the new federation would have to fulfil a list of criteria. An inspection team led by Independent Chair Rune Andersen, an independent international anti-doping expert (Norwegian) and three members of the IAAF Council who will be appointed in the next few days.’