Athletes from Russia and Belarus will likely be barred from the World Championships in Athletics, the biggest sporting event since the end of the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics last winter, unless the war in Ukraine suddenly ends.
A senior World Athletics executive said the organization has maintained the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes from its events — a policy adopted shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, in which the Belarus.
Asked about the status of the Russians for the World Athletics Championships which will take place from July 12 to 25 in Eugene, Oregon, World Athletics referred the Associated Press to a press release dated March 1 confirming the exclusion of athletes from the Russia and Belarus. In it, the president of the federation, Sebastian Coe, indicated that the extraordinary sanctions “appear to be the only peaceful way to interrupt or neutralize the current intentions of Russia, to restore peace”.
Peace has still not returned three months later, and Russian athletes have been banned from most major sports competitions around the world. The IOC has recommended that athletes from Russia and Belarus be excluded from international competitions, and most disciplines have followed this recommendation.
Since 2015, Russia’s athletics federation has been suspended following shocking revelations surrounding a widespread doping scandal that rocked Vladimir Putin’s country. As a result, Russian athletes who managed to prove themselves “clean” were granted permission to participate in international sports competitions under a neutral banner. During the Tokyo Olympics last year, 10 Russian athletes were able to participate in the athletics events; they were 29 at the last world championships, in 2019.
Unless there is a sudden change, there will therefore be no Russians among the 1,800 athletes heading to Eugene’s Hayward Field next month. The World Athletics Council will meet for the occasion, but any changes that may be approved during this meeting will obviously take too long to be implemented to allow Russian athletes to participate in the event.
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