(Image source from: IAAF Votes To Suspend Russia From International Competitions})

Almost unanimously, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) voted to suspend Russia from all international competitions. This comes after the revelations by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) last week.

According to reports from Xinhua, a statement said, “The Council of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has provisionally suspended the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) as an IAAF Member with immediate effect.”

A total of 24 council members took part in the meeting. It was held by teleconference and was chaired IAAF president Sebastian Coe from London. In the meeting, 22 voted in favor of the sanction, while one voted against it. The Russian member was not eligible to take part in the vote. Next week, a formal process will be launched. The provisional suspension is likely to be made permanent by a disciplinary panel. This means, no Russian athletes or support staff can participate in any international events including World Athletics Series competitions and the Olympic Games.

Russia will also not be entitled to host the 2016 World Race Walking Team Championships, scheduled to take place in Cheboksary, and the 2016 World Junior Championships scheduled to happen in Kazan.

Coe commented, “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,” said the Briton.

“The IAAF Athletes’ Commission is extremely disappointed and concerned regarding the recent developments and allegations directed at our sport,” The statement on behalf of the IAAF Athletes Commission added.

-Sumana