A Kenyan Member of Parliament has called for a report on the anti-doping law as the country attempts to tackle a crisis following several positive tests in athletics.

Kathuri Murungi, a Member of Parliament for South Imenti, claimed an audit should take place to assess the situation.

Kenya introduced criminal laws as part of an anti-doping act back in 2016.

This included the creation of a national testing authority, Anti-Doping Kenya, while it made doping an offence which could be punished by imprisonment.

Revised legislation was published later that year after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) declared the country non-compliant.

The changes led to them being made complaint again in time for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Murungi reportedly called for the Ministry of Sport to do more to help tackle the crisis, asserting that they and Athletics Kenya need to better assess coaches for their credibility.

He also called for new policies to be introduced to boost Kenya’s reputation following the positive tests.

“The WADA has been issuing incessant sanctions to Kenya for non-compliance and delays implementing the laws pose a threat to our social co-existence and integration globally,” Murungi said, according to All-Africa.

“There are allegations that banned substances are used by athletes in the training camps and this is blamed on both local and international trainers.”

Currently, 18 Kenyans are suspended for breaches of anti-doping rules by the Athletics Integrity Unit.

This includes world 800 metres bronze medallist Kipyegon Bett, who was last week confirmed to have tested positive for Erythropoietin (EPO).

Three-time Boston Marathon champion Rita Jeptoo and Jemimah Sumgong, the Olympic marathon gold medallist at Rio 2016, are other high-profile Kenyan athletes who are currently serving suspensions for doping offences.

Reigning Olympic steeplechase champion Ruth Jebet, who now represents Bahrain but continues to train and live in Kenya where she was born, has also been suspended since February following an EPO failure.

A further four are provisionally suspended by the AIU, including Athens Marathon champion Samuel Kalalei, distance runner Lucy Wangui Kabuu and sprinter Boniface Mweresa.

A case is also pending against three-time world champion and Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallist Asbel Kiprop after he tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test in November 2017.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) included the distance-running superpower on a list of nations most at risk of doping in July.

It came as part of new regulations by the IAAF Council which put more responsibility on National Federations to deal with the problem.

Kenya and Ethiopia were among four countries included in Category A – member federations the IAAF believe are most likely to have doping problems – along with Belarus, hosts of next year’s European Games, and Ukraine.

Athletics Kenya last week announced the establishment of an Oversight Committee as they seek to tackle the spate of doping cases involving their athletes.

There was a boost earlier this week when it was confirmed that a first East African WADA accredited laboratory had been approved.

Source: insidethegames.biz

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After speeding to her hat-trick of Diamond League titles this week, Caster Semenya is gunning for one that is missing from her collection of major medals – the International Association of Athletics Federations(IAAF) Continental Cup.

The 27-year-old is set to attempt a triple at the two-day Czech Republic competition, which starts on Saturday. She has entered the 400m, 800m and the 4x400m relay races.

She is one of 20 South Africans who have been drafted to the 74-member Team Africa squad.

However, before her long trek to represent the continent in Ostrava, Semenya will make a stop at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Berlin, Germany, today to take part in the rarely-run 1 000m.

“The 1 000m is part of my training programme because I think we have done a good job throughout the season. We don’t want to strain the body,” she said shortly after sealing her Diamond coronation at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich on Thursday.

“In Ostrava, we’ll start with the 400m, which is more of a technical event; you need to focus on your (starting) block and your drive, and keep up the pace and see what you can come up with.

“We focus more on the 400m and nothing else because the 800m is not much of a problem. But I’m up to the challenge,” she said.

Semenya said that what mattered was maintaining consistency.

“We are consistent and that’s what the coach (Samuel Sepeng) needs. Now it’s about being smart and healthy. We’re human and not machines,” she said.

Berlin holds bittersweet memories for Semenya as it was in this German city where she came to prominence as an 18-year-old world champion at the 2009 World Championships.

Her feat, however, catapulted her into the international spotlight following a gender row that refuses to go away.

“Berlin is more like my second home because I won my first (senior major title) there,” she said.

“The 1 000m is just to have fun and improve on my time. A good 800m runner knows what to do. I don’t want to put myself under pressure, but Berlin expects me to do well and I cannot disappoint them.”

Semenya, who holds South African records in the 400m, the 800m and the 1 500m, boasts a personal best time of 2:35.43 in the 1 000m – which she set in March.

The reigning world and Olympic champion had a stellar season despite being followed by fresh scrutiny as, on November 1 the IAAF is set to implement new eligibility regulations regarding naturally high testosterone levels in women athletes.

The new regulations are widely believed to be targeting Semenya.

She has refused to comment on this subject, but has lodged an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport to challenge the IAAF.

Semenya will run the 4x400m relay in Ostrava with compatriot Thapelo Phora and Botswana’s Baboloki Thebe as her team-mates.

Source: sport24.co.za

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The doping ban imposed on the 2010 Meeting Grand Prix IAAF de Dakar 3000m champion Suleiman Simotwo of Kenya has been upheld.

The provisional ban that was imposed was on July 14, 2017,  was upheld by  the IAAF Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after the 38 year old athlete in his defence failed to identify how the Norandosterone entered his system.

Simotwo was busted after an In-Competition urine sample test at the IAAF Vienna city marathon in Austria on April 23, 2017 where he settled for a third place finish.

Analysis of the sample, carried out at the WADA accredited Seibersdorf Laboratory in Austria, established an adverse analytical finding (“AAF”) for Norandrosterone, a metabolite of Nandrolone, which is a prohibited substance under the World AntiDoping Code (“WADC”) and the ADR

Simotwo’s individual results obtained in the Vienna City Marathon on 23 April 2017 have been disqualified with all resulting consequences including the forfeiture of any medals, titles, awards, points and prize and appearance money.

Any results obtained by him in Competitions that have taken place between 23 April 2017 and the date of his Provisional Suspension shall also be disqualified, including the forfeiture of any medals, titles, awards, points and prize and appearance money.

At the Vienna City Marathon Robert Chemosin led a Kenyan sweep of the podium for his first victory in the discipline.

Competing in his third career marathon, Chemosin defied strong head winds in the final kilometers and accelerated from a leading group of five. He finished in a time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 48 seconds.

Runner-up Charles Cheruiyot came 21 seconds behind to set a personal best of 2:10:09, and Suleiman Simotwo was another six seconds back in third.

Simotwo’s indoor personal best over 1500 m of 3:35.24 minutes, achieved in 2006, was the second best time in the world that season, only behind two times world indoor silver medalist Daniel Kipchirchir Komen.

In accordance with IAAF ADR Article 13 Simotwo may appeal against this decision by lodging a Notice of Appeal according to the applicable time limits.

The post Simotwo’s four year Doping Ban Upheld appeared first on Athletics News.

IAAF president Sebastian Coe said Thursday that Russia still has two pre-conditions to meet before they are allowed to return to international competition, despite the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) deciding to lift a ban on Russia’s anti-doping agency.

WADA controversially ended a three-year suspension imposed after Russia was accused of mounting a state-sponsored doping programme.

That in theory paves the way for a return to competition for Russian athletes.

However, the IAAF, which has banned Russian track and field competitors, insists they remain to be convinced.

The organisation’s taskforce will compile a report with a recommendation which will be presented to the IAAF Council at the beginning of December.

“The reinstatement of RUSADA (the Russian anti-doping agency) was one of three pre-conditions,” the IAAF said in a statement.

“The other two pre-conditions are Russian authorities must acknowledge the findings of the McLaren and Schmid Commissions that Ministry of Sport officials were implicated in the scheme to cover up the doping of Russian athletes as described in their reports.

“The Russian authorities must (also) provide access to the data from testing of samples at the Moscow lab from 2011 to 2015, so that the Athletics Integrity Unit can determine whether the suspicious findings reported in the Moscow lab’s database should be pursued.”

Coe said the outstanding pre-conditions will need to be discussed by the taskforce.

“The setting of our own criteria and the process of evaluating progress against these criteria has served athletics well over the last three years so we will continue to rely on the taskforce and our clear roadmap for RusAF (Russian athletics federation) reinstatement until we are satisfied that the conditions have been met,” said Coe.

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Russia’s athletics federation said on Wednesday it had filed an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the decision by global athletics body IAAF to prolong its suspension.

The federation was suspended in November 2015 following a report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that found evidence of systematic, state-sponsored doping in the sport.

Federation spokeswoman Natalia Yukhareva told Reuters it had filed an appeal with CAS against the IAAF’s decision to extend the federation’s suspension at its last council meeting in July.

At the time the IAAF said that Russia had made “significant progress” in meeting criteria for reinstatement, but that its suspension would remain in place until the council convened again in December.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and CAS did not immediately return requests for comment.

The move comes days after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) conditionally reinstated Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA, angering sports bodies around the globe.

The IAAF said last week that RUSADA’s reinstatement fulfilled one of three pre-conditions for the reinstatement of Russia’s athletics federation.

For the federation to be reinstated, Russia must acknowledge that officials from the Sports Ministry were involved in doping cover-up schemes.

Russian authorities must also provide access to data from testing samples at the Moscow lab, which was also suspended in the wake of the 2015 scandal.

Despite the federation’s suspension, a string of Russian athletes, including 2015 world champion hurdler Sergey Shubenkov, have been cleared to compete internationally after demonstrating they are training in a doping-free environment.

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Sebastian Coe has personally asked Senegal’s President Macky Sall to intervene and help have former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) marketing consultant Papa Massata Diack extradited to France for questioning in connection with corruption allegations.

The French prosecutor has claimed there were indications that payments were made by Papa Diack, the son of former IAAF President Lamine Diack, in return for the votes of IAAF and International Olympic Committee (IOC) members over the designation of host cities for the Olympics and other major sporting events.

Papa Diack has been on Interpol’s most wanted list since December 2015 but remains in Dakar as the Senegalese Government refuses to extradite him to France to face the charges.

Sall led Senegal’s delegation to the IOC Session here where yesterday they were awarded the 2022 Summer Youth Olympic Games – set to be the biggest multi-sport event to be hosted in Africa.

“After congratulating the President of Senegal, Macky Sall, on the formal approval of Dakar as the host city of the 2022 Summer Youth Olympic Games, I took the opportunity to request his assistance in working with the French Prosecution to bring to a close an unhappy chapter in our sport,” Coe, the IAAF President, told insidethegames. 

“To date Senegal is the only country that has refused to engage with the investigation and we would like to see this change as the country prepares to stage an Olympic event.

“The President agreed to discuss this and the President of the Senegal Olympic Committee [Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye] has said he will visit Monaco later this year.”

Lamine Diack, arrested by the French authorities in September 2015, is facing additional charges in France for allegedly favouring his son in negotiations for sponsorship and television right deals.

The 85-year-old, President of the IAAF from 1999 to 2015 and a former member of the IOC, was charged with corruption and money laundering three years ago and is now under investigation for “breach of trust”.

Lamine Diack, charged in 2015 with accepting millions of dollars in bribes to cover up failed Russian doping tests, is accused of exploiting his position to enable his son “to appropriate IAAF receipts from sponsors”.

These included Chinese broadcaster CCTV, Russian state bank VTB, Samsung of South Korea and Chinese oil refiner Sinopec.

Papa Diack has been banned from the sport for life by the IAAF but continues to protest his innocence.

He has claimed “this accusation is the biggest lie in the history of world sport”.

Papa Diack blamed the accusations on a smear campaign to tarnish his father’s reputation.

Brazilian investigators have claimed that politicians and Carlos Nuzman, President of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, arranged a $2 million (£1.5 million/€1.8 million) bribe for Lamine Diack’s vote and for him to convince other IOC members from Africa to bring the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games to Rio de Janeiro.

Papa Diack is also accused of trying to influence the final vote for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, allegedly ensuring that African voters backed Tokyo rather than Madrid.

It has been alleged that a $1.5 million (£1 million/€1.2 million) payment was made from the Tokyo 2020 bid team to a Singapore-based Black Tidings bank account linked to Papa Diack and was made during Japan’s successful campaign.

He has also been linked with a scheme to help Pyeongchang win its bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

source: insidethegames.biz

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Double Olympic 800m champion South Africa’s Caster Semenya got a reprieve after the International Athletics Association Federations (IAAF) postponed by five months the implementation of controversial new rules on high testosterone levels in female athletes.

The world athletics governing body has agreed to avoid further delay in proceedings of a case filed by South African track star Caster Semenya challenging the new law.

The world track and field governing body had scheduled November 1 as the date they wanted to introduce the rules that have split opinion.

Semenya, with the backing of the South African athletics federation (ASA), has turned to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in her challenge of IAAF rules terming them discriminatory.

“Prolonging the uncertainty for athletes looking to compete in these distances next year and beyond is unfair and so we have reached a compromise with the claimants,” IAAF president Lord Sebastian Coe.

“We have agreed not to enforce the regulations against any athlete until the contested regulations are upheld. In exchange, they have agreed not to prolong the process. All athletes need this situation resolved as soon as possible.”

The powerfully-built Semenya, double Olympic 800m champion (2012, 2016) and three-time world champion (2009, 2011, 2017), is potentially the highest-profile female athlete that would be affected by such regulations.

Classified as “hyper-androgynous”, athletes like Semenya would have to chemically lower their testosterone levels to be able to compete, something the 800m runner says is in violation of the IAAF’s constitution and the Olympic Charter.

The post IAAF Postpones Enforcing new Law against Semenya appeared first on Athletics News.

Olympic champion Caster Semenya has revealed that NBA superstar Lebron James is “close to her heart”.

Semenya flew to New York to receive the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award from the Women’s Sports Foundation and tennis icon Billie Jean King on Wednesday night.

In September, James watched the world and Olympic 800m champion at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Berlin, where Semenya won the 1 000m title in 2:30.70 and broke her own national record.

“He (James) is very close to my heart. He’s someone who inspires me a lot,” Semenya said in an interview with SNTV on Tuesday.

“I would never thought he would take his time and come watch me run. So, it was a great moment.

“He told me to keep on working hard, I’m a special kid. That’s what he said to me so it’s just fantastic. I was deeply touched,” said the 27-year-old.

On Tuesday, the IAAF announced it had agreed to postpone by five months the implementation of controversial new rules on high testosterone levels in female athletes.

Semenya and Athletics South Africa (ASA) are challenging the proposal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Semenya’s hearing was pushed back to February, with the possible start of the IAAF’s rule on March 26.

Source: newsnow.co.uk

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RUSADA’s 22-month suspension was removed by WADA subject to various conditions but drew widespread criticism from some athletes and anti-doping agencies.

The decision opens the door for Russia’s eventual return to international sport, following February’s reinstatement of the Russian Olympic Committee after the country was banned from this year’s Winter Games in South Korea.

Thompson, the former world and European champion who won gold at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, told Reuters WADA should be replaced because athletes’ were not being listened to.

“I just think WADA should be kicked into touch and we should have some people that are representing the athlete and the spirit of sport,” he said at the Laureus Sport for Good Summit.

“A new body should be set up because the one there isn’t fit for purpose.”

Athletics was at the forefront of the doping scandal that erupted in 2015 with Richard McLaren’s independent report alleging a state-sponsored doping program existed in Russia.

Critics say Russia has failed to meet steps laid out in a roadmap for RUSADA’s reinstatement, which included the country acknowledging the findings of the WADA-commissioned McLaren report and allowing access to urine samples at its Moscow lab.

RIGHT DECISION

However, a WADA spokesperson defended its stance on RUSADA, saying in an email to Reuters: “WADA’s Executive Committee… believes that the decision to reinstate RUSADA as compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code is the right one for clean sport and puts WADA in a much stronger position than we were before.

“What the decision means is that either we will have access to all the data from the Moscow laboratory by the end of the year, allowing us to catch more cheats and exonerate clean athletes, or RUSADA will be made non-compliant again.”

Athletics’ governing body has been one of the few to maintain a hard line, with the IAAF imposing its own conditions which the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) still has to meet before its athletes can compete internationally again.

“A lot of the other sports I think have done a disservice to their athletes,” said 60-year-old Thompson.

“Russia hasn’t complied to some of the instructions that they were given in order to get back into international sport and I think that they’ve all capitulated… for whatever reason.

“I think that athletics has been the one true defender and I’m proud to be part of that family.”

The International Association of Athletics Federations set up the Athletics Integrity Unit in April 2017 as an independent body tasked with combating doping in sport.

TOUGH SELL

However, Thompson questioned the IAAF decision to stage the Sept. 27-Oct 6 world championships in Doha next year — the first time the event will have been held in the Gulf region.

“It’s going to be tough… I don’t know how they’re going to fill stadiums. Even football doesn’t fill stadiums there. It was a tough call and hopefully they’ve got it right but looking at it today it’s going to be a tough sell.”

The Briton favors regularly bringing the worlds back to his home city, London, which staged last year’s event.

UK Sport recently announced they were looking at bidding to hold the global event again within the next 10 years after breaking attendance records in 2017 at the London Stadium, which was also the packed centerpiece of the 2012 Olympics.

“And why wouldn’t they? I don’t know why the IAAF doesn’t take their world championships — every third one or every fourth one — back to Britain because we filled the place,” Thompson said.

“We might be the only place in the whole world that fills it morning, afternoon, evening sessions — we love it.”

The post WADA not fit for purpose and should be replaced : Thompson appeared first on Athletics News.

World 800m champion Caster Semenya has not made the top five shortlist for the 2018 IAAF Female Athlete of the Year award.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) announced on Monday the names of the five female finalists with Semenya missing out.

Earlier this month, Semenya won big at the South African Sports Awards, winning the Sports Star of the Year, the Sportswoman of the Year and People’s Choice Award.

It has been a stellar season for Semenya as she retained her 800m IAAF Diamond League title.

The 27-year-old took the 800m and 1 500m double at the Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast and won the 800m and 400m at the African Championships.

She also broke the 400m and 1 500m SA record and shattered the 800m and 1 000m African record.

Recently, the IAAF announced it had agreed to postpone by five months the implementation of controversial new rules on high testosterone levels in female athletes.

Semenya and Athletics South Africa (ASA) are challenging the proposal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Her hearing was pushed back to February, with the possible start of the IAAF’s rule on March 26.

Meanwhile, the IAAF male finalists will be announced on Tuesday, November 20 where South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga has been shortlisted.

The IAAF Athletics Awards takes place on Tuesday, December 4 in Monaco.

IAAF Female of the Year award finalists:

1. Dina Asher-Smith    (GBR)
2. Beatrice Chepkoech  (KEN)
3. Caterine Ibarguen      (COL)
4. Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH)
5. Nafissatou Thiam       (BEL)

Source: sport24.co.za

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Latvian Athletics Association President Ineta Radevica has tested positive after a retest of her sample from the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The former long jumper finished in fourth place at the Games, having achieved a distance of 6.88 metres.

United States’ Brittney Reese won the gold with a distance of 7.12m, with Russia’s Yelena Sokolova and Reese’s team-mate Janay DeLoach completing the podium with efforts of 7.07m and 6.89m respectively.

Radevica was selected to carry Latvia’s flag at the Closing Ceremony in London.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has confirmed Radevica’s positive retest, with the Latvian testing positive for the anabolic steroid oxandrolone.

“The AIU confirms the provisional suspension of former Latvian long jumper Ineta Radevica for violations of Article 2.1 of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) anti-doping rules after a retesting of samples from London 2012,” the AIU stated.

The AIU confirms the Provisional Suspension of former #Latvian #longjumper Ineta Radevica for violations of Article 2.1 of the @iaaforg #AntiDoping Rules after a retesting of samples from #London2012.https://t.co/opInfkVlnV#AIUNews #athletics #trackandfield #SanctionNews pic.twitter.com/4EBLzwWUQJ

— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) November 23, 2018

Radevica was crowned European champion back in 2010, while the Latvian enjoyed a podium finish at the 2011 World Championships.

She initially finished in third place at the Championships in Daegu, with Reese emerging as the gold medallist.

Radevica was later upgraded to the silver medal after Russia’s Olga Kucherenko was disqualified following a positive retest of her sample from South Korea.

She received the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in London during 2017.

The 37-year-old added that her focus would be on her family, as she is currently pregnant with her third child.

Should the positive be confirmed, Radevica would become the third finalist from the women’s long jump final at London 2012 to be retrospectively disqualified.

Latvian Athletics Association President Ineta Radevica tests positive. Photo: IAAF

Russia’s Anna Nazarova and Belarus’ Nastassia Mironchyk-Ivanova were both disqualified following positive retests.

The final had featured 11 jumpers rather than 12, with Turkey’s Karin Mey Melis withdrawing after qualification when the IAAF were notified that she had tested positive for testosterone at the 2012 European Championships.

Radevica’s positive test follows the announcement last month that additional retests of samples from the London 2012 Olympic Games are being conducted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Reanalysis of samples using new technology was conducted prior to the Rio 2016 Olympics, with the aim of preventing athletes who had tested positive in the London 2012 retests from attending the Games.

A total of 48 anti-doping rule violations were confirmed as a result of more than 500 retests, with the IOC claiming anabolic steroids were mostly detected.

Retests are now set to continue throughout 2019, until the statute of limitations expires in 2020.

The International Testing Agency has been delegated responsibility for results management, as well as the selection of samples which will be analysed.

A provisional suspension was also announced last month for Natalya Ivoninskaya, who competed in the women’s 100m hurdles at London 2012.

The Kazakhstan athlete tested positive for DHCMT – or turinabol – and stanozolol.

Source: insidethegames.biz

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Three-time world 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop of Kenya is holding onto the hope that his provisional suspension from athletics on doping charges will be overturned.

Speaking in Eldoret, Kiprop said he had been left high and dry after a routine anti-doping test, with the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) saying his results tested positive for the banned blood-boosting drug EPO.

However, the 29-year-old has vehemently denied doping, saying his sample was switched.

His case has not been completed and as he waits for answers that may or may not clear him of the doping allegation, he has opted to start training in order to remain fit.

“I have no doubt whatsoever that I am running clean and I have never taken any doping drugs to boost my performance. I don’t belong to the group of dopers and my name needs to be cleared so I can do what I love most, running,” said Kiprop on Monday evening.

Kiprop’s sample was taken in an out-of-competition test in November 2017.

The AIU, which processes all doping tests in track and field for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), is unable to confirm the result of any tests under the World Anti-Doping code.

2018 has not been a good year for Kenya, with several top athletes banned for cheating.

Aside from Kiprop, other names on that list include world junior 800m champion Kipyegon Bett, Milan Marathon champion Lucy Kabuu, African Games silver medalist Boniface Mweresa and Athens Marathon champion Samuel Kalalei.

Owing to his suspension, Kiprop is not allowed to train, let alone compete, with other athletes. This has seen him retreat to his rural home where he trains at the grounds of a nearby primary school, side by side with grazing livestock.

Ten years ago, Kiprop was beaten to the Olympic gold medal by Bahraini Rashid Ramzi. However, he was elevated to first place days later when Ramzi failed a doping test. Kiprop then went on to dominate in the four-lap race, winning three world titles.

Over 50 Kenyan athletes have tested positive for doping since 2012, and in 2015 the country was deemed “non-compliant” by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), only to be reinstated before the Rio Olympics.

Together with Ukraine, Ethiopia, Venezuela and Morocco, Kenya has been deemed one of the countries whose athletes are most likely to dope.

This means its athletes will have to pass stringent testing before being allowed to compete in the Olympics, World Championships and major city marathons.

Source: xinhuanet.com

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A ban on Russia that has already lasted more than three years is set to be extended by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) 0n Tuesday.

he Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) was initially suspended by the IAAF in November 2015 following allegations of widespread state-supported doping.

The ruling IAAF Council has since voted to uphold the suspension eight times and are expected to extend it until at least into 2019 when they discuss the issue at their second day of their end-of-year meeting tomorrow.

Norwegian Rune Andersen, head of the IAAF Taskforce on Russia, is expected to recommend to the meeting taking place in the five-star beach resort that the suspension been maintained because some of the key criteria have still not been met.

These include that Russian authorities must provide access to the data from testing of samples at the Moscow Laboratory from between 2011 and 2015, so that the Athletics Integrity Unit can determine whether any suspicious findings should be investigated.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), who controversially reinstated the Russian Anti-Doping Agency in September, are currently negotiating with the authorities in Moscow to have access to this information by December 31.

The IAAF, under its President Sebastian Coe, are expected to insist Russia cannot be reinstated until this process is completed.

If the ban is not lifted tomorrow, it means Russia will again not be able to compete under its own flag at next year’s European Indoor Championships in Glasgow next February as the IAAF Council is not due to meet again until March.

“We need to see things out to the end,” France’s Bernard Amsalem, a member of the IAAF Council, told news agency Agence France-Presse.

“We imposed conditions and if those conditions aren’t fulfilled, then we must extend the suspension of Russia.

“What would we do if WADA isn’t able to get access to the laboratory data between now and December 31?

“I know Council members, like me, who will not yield.”

Source: insidethegames.biz

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The world governing body’s flagship event is confirmed as heading to the Hungarian capital

The 2023 IAAF World Championships will take place in Budapest, it has been confirmed.

In the past, the Hungarian capital has held the European Championships in 1966 and 1998 as well as the IAAF World Indoor Championships in 1989 and 2004.

There have also been moves to stage the Olympics in recent years but last year it pulled out of a bid to hold the 2024 Games.

Budapest will follow Doha next year and Eugene in 2021 as the city that will stage the world governing body’s flagship event.

IAAF President Sebastian Coe had announced in July that Budapest was their preferred choice and that was rubber-stamped today by the ruling Council here.

A big congratulations to @MartonGyulai the CEO and his team who made a great presentation to the IAAF Council today and have now officially signed the contract for the @IAAFWorldChamps in Budapest 2023 #ItsComingHomeToEurope pic.twitter.com/sku8DqgAGD

— Svein Arne Hansen (@SvenPres) December 4, 2018

The main venue of the event will be a 40 000-seat new National Athletics Centre that is currently in the planning phase.

Following the Championships, temporary seating will be removed and only 15 000 seats will remain to fill the void of athletics stadiums in country.

The venue will serve as a huge boost to both competitive and leisure sports as well as youth development, Budapest officials claim.

Balázs Fürjes, the Government Commissioner for International Sport Bids in Hungary, who had led that unsuccessful bid, was here as part of the Budapest delegation.

“It is a huge honour that the IAAF trusts the experience and organisational abilities of Budapest and Hungarians,” he said

“Budapest has established itself as a major sports capital in Europe.

“The goal is for Budapest to lead the way in delivering sports events in a new, innovative and trendy way. It is essential for us to build on the positive experiences gained from hosting recent sports events and to study the right examples from abroad, such as the World Athletics Championships in London in 2017, or the Youth Olympic Games of Buenos Aires earlier this year.”

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World athletics body IAAF on Tuesday upheld a ban against Russia’s athletics federation over doping in the country, the TASS news agency reported, citing a source.

Russia’s athletics federation has been suspended since 2015 over a report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that found evidence of widespread, state-sponsored doping in the sport.

Since then some individual Russian athletes, however, have been allowed to compete internationally as neutrals provided they met certain criteria that showed they had operated in a dope-free environment.

But the national athletics team was banned from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The IAAF’s Russia task force head, Rune Andersen, had said in July that RUSAF, the Russian atheletics federation, had made significant but not complete progress in meeting the reinstatement requirements.

To be reinstated, the IAAF has said Russia must acknowledge findings of the WADA-commissioned McLaren report that doping in the country was state-sponsored and also provide access to the data from testing of samples at the Russia Anti-Doping Agency’s (RUSADA) Moscow laboratory from 2011-2015.

Russia has accepted there was extensive doping in the country, but its authorities have continued to deny any of it was state sponsored.

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Concluding races in the decathlon and heptathlon events at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi in 2020 will see the introduction of handicapped starts based on previous points, it has been announced.

The IAAF Council has approved the introduction of the Gundersen method, currently used in modern pentathlon, into an event that has always been problematic at the finish as spectators wait to hear how the final 1,500 metres – or in the women’s event, 800m has worked out in terms of the overall result.

It would mean athletes finish in overall rank order.

In two other significant developments for the sport, a mixed 4x400m relay added to the programme of the event in the Kenyan capital, while the men’s 10,000m has been dropped, with both men and women racing over 3,000m and 5,000m.

The Council has also agreed to post live world rankings from January 1, 2019, although it will not immediately be linked to qualification for IAAF events.

“This will allow athletes and member federations to see the rankings system in action during the 2019 season without it impacting on qualification for the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019,” the IAAF said in a statement.

“The Council will further discuss the introduction of the world rankings as the primary qualification process for the 2020 Olympic Games at its next meeting in March.”

The new bidding process whereby Budapest was awarded the 2023 IAAF World Championships has been permanently adopted.

The IAAF Council has confirmed that the process where the ruling body “selects an area to host the event, and then a bid evaluation panel recommends a host city from interested candidates” – will be adopted initially for the World Outdoor and Indoor Championships and eventually for all World Athletics Series events.

A proposal to alter Rule 163.4 on lane infringement – following the high number of disqualifications at this year’s IAAF World Indoor Championships, where in one case an entire heat of the men’s 400m was disqualified – was not accepted by the Council, which asked for further information.

This means the Rule 163.4 will be unchanged for the 2019 indoor season.

An amendment was approved to Rules 251 and 252  which will merge the mountain running and trail running rules to create a consistent approach to rule enforcement at these events, effective from January 1.

Another amendment was approved to Rule 170.10 – substitutes for relay races – to allow four additional athletes to be used once a relay team has started the competition, which would be applicable at all World Athletics Series events and Olympic Games.

The Council also approved the new IAAF Manipulation of Sports Competition Rules, as from January 1, 2019.

This means the same standard of proof – that is, the comfortable satisfaction standard – and the same processes of investigation and adjudication will apply to breaches of these rules as currently apply to alleged breaches of all other rules under the integrity Code of Conduct.

source: insidethegames.biz

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Kenyans finished in the first 22 spots of the men’s Singapore marathon — with winner Joshua Kipkorir completing the race about half an hour quicker than the fastest non-Kenyan.

Kipkorir — 24, and competing in the Singapore marathon for the first time — finished Sunday’s race in two hours, 12 minutes and 20 seconds, the second-fastest time in the event’s history, according to organisers.

Felix Kirwa was second, a minute behind Kipkorir, while Andrew Kimtai was third. A total of 22 Kenyan men took part in the marathon, according to organisers.

The fastest non-Kenyan was Singaporean runner Soh Rui Yong, lagging far behind the winner, with a time of two hours, 41 minutes and 49 seconds.

Kenyan runners also dominated the women’s event, bagging the top five spots. Fifteen Kenyan women in all took part in the race.

Around 10 000 people completed the 42km race.

The astonishing results underlined the dominance of Kenyans in marathons, with even Singapore’s tropical heat and humidity proving no barrier to success for runners who typically train at high altitudes.
Last week Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge — who has been acclaimed as the greatest marathon runner of the modern era — won the International Association of Athletics Federations men’s 2018 award.

He has dominated marathon racing since making his debut in Hamburg in 2013. The Olympic champion set a new marathon world record in Berlin in September with a time of two hours, one minute and 39 seconds.

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Chicago marathon champion Brigit Kosgei has ruled out competing at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Denmark in March.

The 24-year-old said she is fully focused on the marathon competition and will skip the championships to allow other young athletes to expose their talents.

“I will not be running at the Kenya trials for the World Cross Country Championships,” Kosgei said on Thursday in Nairobi.

“I however will compete in a few road races to boost my preparations for the marathon season that starts in March,” she added.

Kosgei, who is back in Kenya after competing at the San Silvestre Vallecana, an IAAF Silver Label road race, in Madrid, Spain, said she targets one big city marathon before thinking of the World Marathon Championships in Doha, Qatar.

“I have to plan for the World Marathon Championships if I will be selected. But at the moment, I have not confirmed which race I will be competing in April,” she added.

On Monday, in Madrid, Kosgei stormed to a 29:54 performance, a course record in the 10km race, beating Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba and Kenya’s Hellen Obiri.

“I’m delighted with my performance but despite this fast time I will keep focused on the marathon,” said Kosgei.

“I don’t know where my next appearance will be as my management works on that, but I don’t plan to compete at the Kenyan trials for the World Cross Country Championships,” she added.

Source: xinhuanet.com

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Over the first nine days of 2019, we are taking a look at nine things we’re really looking forward to as we enter another  year.

We started with a look at returning stars and then some exciting rising stars. The series then continued by examining some of the world records which may finally fall in 2019 and then moved on to key head-to-heads expected to highlight the year ahead. We then took a look at the technology innovations being put to use in 2019 and yesterday we previewed some of what’s in store for athletes and fans at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships Aarhus 2019 in March.

Today, we continue with a look at…

EXPECTED ACTION ON THE ROADS

Assault on the men’s 10km world record

Leonard Patrick Komon set the men’s 10km world record of 26:44 on 26 September 2010 and for most of those ensuing eight-plus years, his stunning performance in Utrecht has proved untouchable. Indeed, prior to last year, the closest anyone’s came has been 26 seconds. That changed in 2018 when two men would emerge as serious threats to the Kenyan’s venerable mark. The bad news for Komon? Both are teenagers.

First up was 18-year-old Rhonex Kipruto, whose 27:08 run in New York City’s Central Park last April was the fastest performance over the distance since Komon’s world record. He followed up in July by taking the world U20 title on the track over 10,000m, and then returned to the roads in Prague in September, the setting where he produced his shocking break-out performance the year before, clocking 27:13. Once again, he confirmed his status as one of the planet’s most promising distance runners after a dominating 26:46 victory, the second fastest performance of all-time.

Not to be outdone was Jacob Kiplimo, the world U20 cross country champion, who closed out the year in style with a stunning run of his own. The 18-year-old Ugandan clocked 26:41 at the San Silvestre Vallecana in Madrid, the fastest 10km ever run. Madrid’s is a downhill course so his performance can’t count as a world record, but it’s notable nonetheless as an illustration of what Kiplimo is capable of.

More unprecedented depth in women’s half marathon

In 2018, Netsanet Gudeta capped the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships with a dominating 1:06:11 performance, a world record for a women-only race. That was in late March; just six weeks earlier, Kenyan Fancy Chemutai clocked 1:04:52 in Ras Al Khaimah, just one second shy of the world record set by Joycilene Jepkosgei only four months earlier.

That only begins to illustrate the unprecedented depth over the distance at the moment. Four of the seven fastest performances ever recorded came in 2018, a year that witnessed 20 women produce 27 sub-1:07:00 performances. By comparison, in 2017, 13 women broke 1:07 16 times; the year before nine did so on 10 occasions; and in 2015, the barrier was broken just five times by four women.

Where will this continue to lead? Most probably to more assaults on Jepkosgei’s 1:04:51 world record.

Radcliffe’s 2:15:25 approaching its sweet 16

The picture is much different in the women’s marathon where Paula Radcliffe’s legendary 2:15:25 world record is fast approaching its 16th birthday. Nobody has come within a minute-and-a-half since, with Mary Keitany’s 2:17:01 women’s-only race world record on that same London course in 2017 the closest.

But depth has improved markedly here as well, suggesting an assault could be in the works. Membership in the sub-2:19 club doubled to 10 in 2018, with Ethiopian Ruti Aga and Kenyans Brigid Kosgei and Ruth Chepng’etich all gaining entry before their 25th birthdays and with their peak years arguably still ahead of them. Roza Dereje, the Dubai winner last January in 2:19:17 isn’t too far behind that trio, and she won’t be 22 until 6 May.

Kipchoge’s weight of expectations

For many, Eliud Kipchoge’s stunning 2:01:39 world record at the Berlin Marathon was the finest performance of 2018. Perhaps even of the young millennium. It was a stunning display that shattered the previous record by a massive one minute and 18 seconds, an achievement that until that cool European autumn morning was considered unfathomable.

Yet even before Kipchoge fully caught his breath and began sipping his celebratory post-race brew, the questions and expectations began: could the Kenyan superstar go faster? If so, how much faster? And could he give the two-hour barrier another go?

Considering what the 34-year-old Kenyan has already endured and achieved, heaping those weighty expectations on his slight shoulders isn’t remotely fair. But then again, just a few short months after illustrating to the world that limits in human endurance are by nature very temporary, he’s clearly on top of his game.

His next marathon appearance hasn’t yet been announced. When it is, we can expect attention that will be unparalleled in modern marathoning.

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The Vatican has launched an athletics team with the aim of competing in international competitions – including the Olympics – as part of an agreement signed with the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni).

About 60 Holy See runners – Swiss Guards, priests, nuns, pharmacists and a 62-year-old professor who works in the Vatican’s Apostolic Library – are the first accredited members of Vatican Athletics. It is the latest iteration of the Holy See’s longstanding promotion of sport as an instrument of dialogue, peace and solidarity.

Because of the agreement with Coni, the team is now a part of the Italian track association and is looking to join the International Association of Athletics Federations. It is hoping to compete in international competitions, including the Games of the Small States of Europe – open to states with fewer than 1 million people – and the Mediterranean Games. The Vatican aims to sign similar agreements with the Italian Paralympic committee.

“The dream that we have often had is to see the Holy See flag among the delegations at the opening of the Olympic Games,” said Monsignor Melchor Jose Sánchez de Toca y Alameda, team president and the head of the Vatican’s sports department in the culture ministry. He said that was neither a short-term nor medium-term goal, and that for now the Vatican was looking to participate in competitions that had cultural or symbolic value. “We might even podium,” he added.

Members of Vatican Athletic join in the club’s launch. Photograph: Andrew Medichini/AP

Team members wearing navy warm-up suits bearing the Holy See’s crossed keys seal attended the launch. Vatican pharmacist-runner Michela Ciprietti told a press conference the aim of the team is not exclusively competitive, but rather to “promote culture and running and launch the message of solidarity and the fight against racism and violence of all types”.

Coni president Giovanni Malago welcomed the birth of the Vatican team, even though he acknowledged it might one day deprive Italy of a medal. However he joked to Vatican officials: “Just don’t get too big.”

In recent years, the Vatican has fielded unofficial football teams and a cricket team that has helped forge relations with the Anglican church through annual tours in Britain. The track team, however, is the first one to have a legal status in Vatican City and to be an official part of the Italian sporting umbrella, able to compete in nationally and internationally sanctioned events and take advantage of the Italian national coaching, scientific and medical resources.

Vatican Athletics’ first official outing is the La Corsa di Miguel on 20 January, a 10km race in Rome honouring Miguel Sánchez, an Argentine distance runner who was one of the thousands of young people who “disappeared” during the country’s Dirty War. The choice is significant: Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was a young Jesuit superior in Argentina during the military dictatorship’s crackdown on alleged leftist dissidents.

Source: theguardian.com

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