IAAF clears eight more Russians to compete internationally as neutral athletes

Monte Carlo [Monaco], July 20 (ANI): The Internationally Association of Neutral Athletes (IAAF) has approved applications of eight Russian athletes to compete in international competition under the neutral flag. "The IAAF Doping Review Board has agreed that the applications of eight Russian athletes have met the exceptional eligibility criteria to compete in international competition as neutral athletes under competition Rule 22.1A(b) while the Russian national federation (RusAF) remains suspended," said IAAF in a statement. A total of 41 Russian athletes (39 in 2017 and two in 2016) have previously been declared eligible to compete as neutral athletes and they remain eligible to compete in international competition subject to acceptance by individual meeting organisers. The approved athletes are Ilia Ivaniuk (high jump), Sergej Litvinov (hammer), Alena Lutkovskaia (pole vault), Danil Lysenko (high jump), Sofia Palkina (hammer), Valery Pronkin (hammer), Vladislav Saraykin (race walk) and Ekaterina Sokolenko (3000m steeplechase). A total of 41 Russian athletes (39 in 2017 and two in 2016) have previously been declared eligible to compete as neutral athletes and they remain eligible to compete in international competition subject to acceptance by individual meeting organisers. The organisation had imposed a blanket ban on the Russian athletics team in the run up to the 2016 Rio Olympics when the Russian doping scandal escalated, inflamed by the release of the first part of a report by an independent commission of the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) headed by Richard McLaren. Russian track and field athletes and weightlifters were banned from competing at the Rio 2016 Olympics. While the country's 68 track and field athletes were barred from competing in Rio, 271 Russian athletes were earlier given a clean chit to compete in the Brazilian capital. A total of 61 cases were reviewed by the Doping Review Board on this occasion. As well as the eight applications accepted, 53 were declined. In total this year, 47 applications have been approved, of which nine were specifically for the World U18 Championships and two were specifically for the European U20 Championships. A total of 109 applications have been declined. IAAF president Sebastian Coe commented: "From the beginning we have declared this process was about supporting the hopes and aspirations of all clean athletes including Russian athletes who have been failed by their national system. I wish to thank the Doping Review Board for their diligent work assessing these applications." (ANI)