PARIS:
\nWorld Athletics on Wednesday acknowledged that Russia had made \u201csteady progress\u201d in meeting the requirements to return to international competition but not enough to lift the ban imposed in 2015 for systematic state doping.
\nThe global governing body\u2019s council accepted the recommendation from the Task Force established to monitor Russia\u2019s efforts to turn its back on its doping-tainted past.
\nRUSAF, Russian athletics\u2019 ruling body, was initially kicked out of World Athletics six years ago after a damning World Anti-Doping Agency report identified \u201ca deeply-rooted culture of doping\u201d.
\nFor the athletics superpower to return it had to meet a series of strict conditions including establishing a culture of zero tolerance and an effective anti-doping structure.
\nRune Andersen, head of the Task Force, in his report accepted that \u201cRUSAF has made steady progress towards meeting the conditions set for its reinstatement to membership of World Athletics\u201d.
\nHe added: \u201cThe key milestones to date have been met, as well as the various key performance indicators set out in the Reinstatement Plan.\u201d
\nAnderson noted the new RUSAF leadership had shown \u201ca genuine commitment\u201d to lead this change away from doping \u201cand ensure it becomes deep-rooted in Russian athletics\u201d.
\nBut he warned: \u201cThere are still people in Russian athletics who have not embraced this new culture, and there is still much work for RUSAF to do to ensure that they do not exercise influence.\u201d
\nAnother factor in upholding the ban was the status of Russia\u2019s anti-doping agency.
\nRUSADA was declared by WADA to be non-compliant in 2019 after doctoring doping tests from its Moscow laboratory.
\nAn initial four-year ban was reduced to two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport last December.
\nWhile Russia is banned, athletes from the country have been able to compete under a neutral banner once they have proved they were drug-free, as a handful did at the Tokyo Olympics this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS: World Athletics on Wednesday acknowledged that Russia had made \u201csteady progress\u201d in meeting the requirements to return to international competition but not enough to lift the ban imposed in 2015 for systematic state doping. The global governing body\u2019s council accepted the recommendation from the Task Force established to monitor Russia\u2019s efforts to turn its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[339,337,338,334],"class_list":{"0":"post-228225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports","7":"tag-athletics","8":"tag-ban","9":"tag-russia","10":"tag-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n