MOSCOW (AP) β The Russian Olympic Committee promised Saturday to lead efforts to reform the country’s scandal-hit athletics federation as the country faces possible exclusion from Olympic track and field.
Russia was suspended by a 22-1 vote Friday by the governing council of the IAAF, track and field’s governing body, four days after a World Anti-Doping Agency report accused the country of operating a vast state-sponsored doping program.
“The Russian Olympic Committee is ready to take the initiative on reforming (the Russian athletics federation), in accordance with IAAF requirements and anti-doping legislation,” ROC president Alexander Zhukov said in a statement.
Zhukov’s statement comes two days after he met in Switzerland with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.
Zhukov, who is also a senior Russian political figure and ally of President Vladimir Putin, said Saturday he was “convinced that the ROC’s actions in this area will find support from the IOC, WADA and the IAAF leadership.”
Also Saturday, the head of the Russian athletics federation said he could go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to appeal the ban from global track and field.
The Russian track federation’s acting president Vadim Zelichenok said Russia is focused on finding “a rational compromise” to have the ban lifted but could appeal to CAS if the IAAF “tells us clearly that it doesn’t accept any of our arguments,” in comments to the Tass agency.
He added that lengthy court proceedings might actually reduce Russia’s hopes of having its ban lifted in time for the Olympics, which are just nine months away.
The European athletics association also confirmed Russia was banned from its competitions following Friday’s IAAF vote. European Athletics said in a statement that it would formally notify Russia of the suspension Saturday. The first competition Russia would miss is the European cross country championships in Spain on Feb. 1.
