Russian athletes who can prove they are untainted by the country’s doping scandal were given the go-ahead Thursday to compete at the Rio Olympics but as neutrals and not under their national flag, the IAAF said.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Council decided last week to maintain the suspension of Russia after findings of drug test violations, including ignored positives and altered test results.
But clean athletes have now been offered an olive branch.
“If there are any individual athletes who can clearly and convincingly show that they are not tainted by the Russian system because they have been outside the country and subject to other effective anti-doping systems, then they should be able to apply for permission to compete in international competitions, not for Russia but as a neutral athlete,” said an IAAF statement.
See also:
• IAAF unanimously vote to extend Russia ban, hope given to 'neutrals' to compete at Rio Olympics
• IAAF denies that their president Sebastian Coe was aware of Russian doping corruption
Elsewhere, Kuwait has filed suit in a Swiss court seeking US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) in damages from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over its suspension from competition, its youth and information minister said.
The IOC and world football governing body Fifa suspended Kuwait in October over laws that allow government interference in sports.
Sheikh Salman Al Humoud Al Sabah said the suspension, which threatens to exclude Kuwaiti athletes from the Olympics in Rio in August, was “unjustifiable” and imposed without proper investigation.
“It’s totally unacceptable that Kuwait is treated in this unfair way and barred from international sports activities without any appropriate probe being conducted,” the official Kuna news agency quoted the minister as saying late on Wednesday.
The minister did not give further details of the lawsuit.
Apart from the IOC and Fifa, 16 other international sporting federations have also blacklisted Kuwait.
In January, the Kuwaiti government filed suit in a domestic court seeking damages of $1.3bn from 15 Kuwaiti sports officials it alleged had actively sought the suspensions.
They included Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, who heads the Olympic Council of Asia and is a top IOC official as well as a member of the Fifa executive committee.
The youth minister renewed those allegations on Wednesday, charging that officials who were supposed to represent Kuwait had been “happy” about the country’s suspension.
The Kuwaiti parliament approved sweeping changes to sports laws on Monday but MPs said the amendments did not go far enough to end the country’s suspension.
It is the third time since 2007 that Fifa and the IOC have suspended Kuwait for alleged government interference.
Meanwhile, Russia’s weightlifters face being kicked out of the Rio Olympics for repeated doping violations.
Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus will be banned for one year by the International Weightlifting Federation over failed retests from the 2008 and 2012 Games in Beijing and London.
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