Athletics is dying in Russia – athletes are preparing to leave the country
Almost all leading Russian track and field athletes are considering the possibility of competing for other teams.
The famous pole athlete, vice-champion of Europe 2018 Timur Morgunov, told Izvestia about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I think that now almost all of our leading athletes do not rule out moving to other teams. What else remains? For those who do not closely follow the situation in Russian athletics, such words may seem like a shock. Our athletes want to compete for other countries - what nonsense?
However, the reality is that they may simply have no other options to save their sports careers and continue doing what they love. It’s incredibly sad and offensive that everyone can run away. It's sad that our generation, which is not to blame for anything, got into such trouble. Our sport in Russia is dying. It’s bitter,” says the athlete.
The publication notes that it is highly likely that the World Athletics Council, which will meet on July 29–30, will deprive Russian athletes of the opportunity to compete at international competitions even in a neutral status.
The reason for the current situation was the “case of Lysenko,” a young high-altitude track and field athlete who was facing a two-year disqualification for three missed doping tests.
“They tried to save the young talent. One of the missed tests was explained by the fact that the athlete was involved in an accident. Attached is a corresponding certificate from the hospital. If everything had worked out, Lysenko could have been completely acquitted. However, during the proceedings it turned out that the certificate from the hospital was fake,” the newspaper writes.
As a result, the Russian Federation came under sanctions. In March of this year, the new president of ARAF, Evgeniy Yurchenko, went to negotiations with World Athletics. The Russian side was ordered to pay a fine of 1 million by July 10, of which 5 million was suspended. At first Yurchenko agreed, but then began to talk about the unreasonability of such an amount. As a result, the fine was never paid.
Experts unanimously say that the suspension of athletes can no longer be avoided. The first sign was the world record holder in the pole vault among youth, Matvey Volkov, who decided to compete for Belarus.
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