The International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) has provisionally suspended Russia and their country’s athletes from the sport. Because of this the Russian athletics team might be unable to participate in next year’s Rio Games.

The Russian representative on the council was not able to vote against the temporary ban. In the end the IAAF voted 22-1 in favour of the sanction.

The report claimed there was “systemic” collusion between Russian athletes, the country’s federation and the anti-doping authorities. Thus, a “deeply-rooted culture of cheating” enabled athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs. When positive tests were returned they were often covered up or destroyed.

The report suggested suspending Russia until a “new framework” was created.

“Today we have been dealing with the failure of ARAF (All Russia Athletics Federation) and made the decision to provisionally suspend them, the toughest sanction we can apply at this time,” said IAAF president Sebastian Coe.
W