Windhoek
Namibia’s legendary sprinter Frank Fredericks and his International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) colleagues yesterday officially kicked off their two-day inspection visit to Moscow, which will focus on reform of the disgraced Russia Athletics Federation (RAF).
According to international reports, the IAAF commission will be working behind closed doors studying documents provided by Russia to ensure that the RAF has met all IAAF requirements, which could then possibly lead to the reinstatement of Russian on the IAAF – should everything with the inspection go well.
Late last year, Russia faced widespread condemnation following the alleged involvement of its athletes in a series of doping allegations. The allegations led to the provisional suspension of RAF from international competitions, including the Olympic Games.
Besides Fredericks, the inspection commission comprises of its chairman Rune Andersen (Norway), and three IAAF Council members: Abbie Hoffman (Canada), Anna Riccardi (Italy) and Jeff Gardner (Norfolk Island).
They will reveal the results of their work in a report, which will then be sent to the IAAF Council. The IAAF Council will debate the report in its upcoming meeting in Cardiff on March 27. The IAAF is the international governing body for the sport of athletics.
Amongst a horde of athletes that were banned two popular Russian athletes Kristina Ugarova (1500m runner) and Tatyana Myazina (800m runner) were among the athletes recommended for life bans in a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report last year.
The Wada report examined allegations of doping, cover-ups and extortion in Russian athletics and also implicated the IAAF. Allegations against Ugarova and Myazina were made in a German TV documentary last year, but both athletes rubbished the allegations and threatened to sue for defamation over those claims.
Fredericks, the only Namibian to have won four silver medals in the 100 and 200-metre races at the Olympic Games (two in 1992 and two in 1996), made history last year by becoming the first and only Namibian to have been elected to the IAAF individual council members’ team.
Internationally, Fredericks also made headlines when he became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 2004, while in 2009 he became president of Athletics Namibia (AN). He vacated the post in 2013. – Additional reporting BBC/tass.ru