IAAF uphold Russia ban

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Friday (17th June) upheld its ban on Russia's track and field team for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. SOUNDBITE (English): Sebastian Coe, IAAF president "The IAAF council was unanimous that RusAF had not met the reinstatement conditions and that Russian athletes could not credibly return to international competition without undermining the confidence of their competitors and the public. As a result RusAF has not been reinstated to membership of the IAAF at this stage." SOUNDBITE (English): Sebastian Coe, IAAF president "I think it sends a very very powerful message. I think it sends a very powerful message to athletes that are in systems that are insecure or may be actually making choices themselves. I think it sends a very very strong message from the IAAF that this is a non-negotiable proposition." SOUNDBITE (English): Rune Andersen, IAAF inspection team chair "Because the system in Russia has been tainted by doping from top level and down we cannot trust what we call and what people might call clean athletes really are clean. It’s a difficult task. But the systematic doping that has been ongoing in Russia - it’s difficult to pick the clean athletes. And as you know one or two or five or a hundred negative tests does not mean that an athlete is clean." Source: