IOC says protection of clean athletes a priority and backs IAAF president Sebastian Coe
The Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games has reiterated its commitment to protecting clean athletes and promoting clean sport after the publication of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Commission report into allegations of widespread doping in sport.
WADA welcomed the report and reaffirmed its commitment to leading the fight against doping in sport, while the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said it would do whatever was necessary to protect clean athletes.
IAAF president Sebastian Coe said: “Our athletes, partners and fans have my total assurance that where there are failures in our governance or our anti-doping programmes we will fix them. We will do whatever it takes to protect the clean athletes and rebuild trust in our sport.”
While Rio 2016 stressed that the investigation is a matter for the IAAF and WADA, and it would be inappropriate to comment on its details, the Games organising committee said it was totally committed to supporting fair competition.
Mario Andrada, Rio 2016’s executive director of communications, said: “The Rio 2016 Organising Committee will do its utmost to guarantee clean Games. We will work with the IOC, IPC and IAAF to protect clean athletes.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said the protection of clean athletes was a top priority and that it will continue to take “whatever measures are needed to safeguard clean athletes, clean sport and good governance”. The IOC said it was confident that under Coe’s leadership the IAAF would “draw all the necessary conclusions and will take all the necessary measures”.
The main focus of the report was on Russian athletes and sport-related institutions, and Coe said the IAAF would consider sanctions against the Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF). These sanctions could include provisional and full suspension, which could potentially result in their omission from the Rio 2016 Games.
Russia’s sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, told the Interfax news agency that if WADA and the IAAF made recommendations based on the report, Russia “will certainly fulfil them”.
From: http://www.rio2016.com/en/news/rio-2016-and-iaaf-guarantee-commitment-to-clean-sport-after-publication-of-wada-report-into-dop
