Russia's eternal doping story: At the World Cup under a neutral flag

The International Athletics Federation does not want to let the doping scandal that flares up again in Russia spoil the World Cup atmosphere. “No country is bigger than this World Cup,” said IAAF President Sebastian Coe after the Council meeting in Doha on Monday. According to the association, 30 Russian athletes will start under a neutral flag in the title fights in Qatar's capital that begin on Friday. The national association of the former athletics superpower remains closed.

The decision was made unanimously. It is also based on the data that the world association received from the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA, said the Norwegian task force chief Rune Andersen. “We don’t have the facts yet, but we trust the information.”

Fake data from Moscow? Russia did not meet the conditions for re-admission. Allegations that banned coaches continued to work with athletes were true. This would call into question the integrity of the national federation RusAF's anti-doping efforts.

Those responsible in Russia must respond to the latest allegations of alleged manipulation in the Moscow doping laboratory within three weeks. “If it turns out that falsified data from the Moscow laboratory was transmitted to WADA, then Russian sport has lost all trust placed in it,” said Andrea Gotzmann, CEO of the National Anti-Doping Agency, to the German Press Agency. “The situation is very serious” The Russians now have to worry again about next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo. The IAAF is the last international sports organization that has not yet lifted the ban imposed on Russia in November 2015. “The situation is very serious,” said Stanislav Pozdnjakov, head of the Russian National Olympic Committee.

The Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA and the Russian Ministry of Sports have been provided with copies of the reports from WADA and independent experts, the WADA executive announced after its meeting a few hours before the IAAF decision in Tokyo. However, there was also “good progress” in the analysis of the Moscow laboratory data.

After a three-year ban, WADA lifted the ban on September 20, 2018 - with the condition that Russia hand over the doping data and samples from 2012 to 2015 to WADA. But this only happened after some hesitation. “WADA has a number of questions,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “Now we just have to wait.”

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Russia's eternal doping story: At the World Cup under a neutral flag

No more major sporting event without debates and decisions surrounding Russia's athletes: They are only allowed to compete at the World Athletics Championships in Qatar under a neutral flag - and WADA once again has a lot of questions.

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