SOCHI, Russia (AP) β IAAF President Lamine Diack says Russia will not be barred from major athletics competitions because of allegations of a systematic doping program.
Russia is being investigated by the IAAF ethics commission and the World Anti-Doping Agency over claims its officials ran such a program. Four Russian Olympic track champions have been banned this year alone.
However, any suggestions Russian athletics competitors could be excluded from the world championships or Olympics events are “a joke,” Diack said, because “a great nation of athletics” could not be left out.
In December, a German TV program broadcast allegations that doping is organized in Russian sport, and that almost all athletes used banned substances.
Diack branded the latter claim “exaggerated” and “ridiculous.”
