The Russian Athletics Federation (RUSAF) has registered a statement of appeal with the international Court of Arbiration for Sport (CAS) against the International Athletics Federations (IAAF) and their decision in July to not reinstate RUSAF to full membership and resolve their suspension.
Only July 27th, 2018, the IAAF Council extended the suspension of Russian track & field athletes until at least the next meeting of the IAAF Council in December 2018. The CAS has opened an arbitration procedure in the case.
RUSAF has been suspended from the IAAF since November 2015 in reaction to the McLaren Report, which found evidence of state-sponsored doping. Only 1 Russian track & field athlete, Darya Klishina, among 68 submitted, was allowed to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Her approval came on the basis of the fact that she had been living and training in the United States for 3 years and was tested “almost exclusively” outside of the RUSADA system. She finished 9th there, and a year later at the 2017 World Championships won a silver in the same event as a ‘neutral athlete.’ Russia had 12 event results disqualified in athletics (including medals and Olympic Records) after failing doping procedures – including some re-tested samples 4 years later.
The appeal comes a week after the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) reinstated the Russian Anti-Doping Association (RUSADA) in spite of the latter having not met the original standards for reinstatement originally set by WADA. RUSADA reports that Russian doping cases doubled in the first 8 months of 2018.
