Despite doping ban annulment Russian athletes still out of int'l tournaments

World Athletics (WA) on March 23 lifted its eight-year ban on the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) for state-sponsored doping, yet the country's athletes, and those of Belarus, will remain excluded from international competitions while Moscow's invasion of Ukraine continues.

"Council approved the recommendation to exclude athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus from all our world athletics series events for foreseeable future due to the invasion and ongoing war in Ukraine," WA President Sebastian Coe told a remote news conference, per Daily Sabah.

The International Olympic Committee is exploring ways to enable athletes and women from those nations to compete as neutrals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but Coe said they would remain ineligible in athletics.

The Council also recommended that organizers of the Diamond League and other Tours take the same approach and exclude athletes and officials from both countries.

Russia reacted by condemning the "politicized restrictions" as unacceptable but did hail the steps taken to achieve the end of the doping ban.

Coe had previously said Russia would need to "get out of Ukraine" before any reinstatement could be considered. He said on March 23 that a working group would be established to advise Council on the conditions that would need to be met for the ban to be lifted.

"The unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus by countries and industries all over the world appear to be the only peaceful way to disrupt and disable Russia's current intentions and restore peace," he said.

"The death and destruction we have seen in Ukraine over the past year, including the deaths of some 185 athletes, have only hardened my resolve on this matter.

"The integrity of our major international competitions has already been substantially damaged by the actions of the Russian and Belarusian governments, through the hardship inflicted on Ukrainian athletes and the destruction of Ukraine's sports systems. Russian and Belarusian athletes, many of whom have military affiliations, should not be beneficiaries of these actions."

Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency, said: "We consider these politicized restrictions unacceptable, especially in the recent speech by (IOC President) Thomas Bach against political influence in the sport. The Olympic Games should remain neutral, and international federations should give all the best athletes the right to compete in their sport."