JOIN USIAAF Council cracks whip on Russia
Athletics' world governing body voted overwhelmingly on Friday to provisionally suspend the Russian federation and the country's athletes from the sport following revelations of widespread, state-sponsored doping.
The International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) council voted 22-1 in favour of the sanction, with the Russian representative not able to vote.
The decision came after the IAAF held a three-hour teleconference, hosted by president Sebastian Coe, to discuss Monday's report by the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which recommended the punishment.
The report alleged "systemic" collusion between Russian athletes and the country's federation and anti-doping authorities and a "deeply-rooted culture of cheating" that enabled athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs without fear of being tested.
Positive tests were covered up or destroyed. The report recommended suspending the Russian federation until a "new framework" was in place.
IAAF council member Mikhail Butov presented the Russian federation's position during Friday's meeting.
"Today we have been dealing with the failure of ARAF (All Russia Athletics Federation) and made the decision to provisionally suspend them, the toughest sanction we can apply at this time," Coe said in a statement. "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 first event likely to be affected by the ban is the European cross-country championships in France on December 13.
Russia will be stripped of hosting the world race walking and world junior championships next year.
The main athletics events in 2016 are the World Indoor Championships, the European athletics championships and the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
To regain membership to the IAAF the new federation would have to fulfil a list of criteria.
An inspection team will be 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.
Russia to toe road map
Russia, meanwhile, has agreed a road map with IAAF and would be compliant with its rules within three months, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said.
"In three months, we will once again go to the international federation to present ourselves as compliant with its standards. We hope our team will be reinstated,"
Mutko also echoed comments from the Russian and International Olympic Committees that Russian athletes would compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
"These athletes who cheat should be punished," he said. "But healthy sportsmen, clean sportsmen must be protected.
Sebastian coe: This has been a shameful wake-up call and we are clear that cheating at any level will not be tolerated.
What it means, what next?
Athletes, and athlete support personnel from Russia may not compete in international competitions including World Athletic Series competitions and the Olympic Games.
Russia will not be entitled to host the 2016 World Race Walking Cup (Cheboksary) and 2016 World Junior Championships (Kazan).
The All-Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF) must delegate all outstanding doping cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The provisional suspension does not:
Prevent athletes in Russia from participating in domestic competitions.
Remove or waive the obligations on international level athletes in Russia to comply with the IAAF Anti-Doping Rules, including continuing to be subject to out of competition testing.
What happens next?:
Unless ARAF voluntarily accepts a full suspension, the IAAF is entitled to proceed to a full hearing on whether the provisional suspension should be made into a full suspension.
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, and three members of the IAAF Council, who will be appointed in the next few days.