MOSCOW (AP) – Russia is making efforts to reform after its damaging doping scandal, according to the head of the IAAF taskforce set up to determine whether the country’s ban from global track and field should be lifted.
“The Russians have recognized that there is an issue, a problem, and they are trying to fix it,” Norwegian anti-doping expert Rune Andersen told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Russia was suspended by the IAAF – track and field’s world governing body – from international competition, including the Olympics, in November after a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency panel detailed a state-sponsored doping program.
Andersen, who heads the five-person IAAF taskforce, held meetings Monday and Tuesday in Moscow with Russian government and sports officials.
“There is an open and frank discussion,” he said. “There are no obstructions to what we’re trying to do. Everyone wants to find solutions to the problems that Russian athletics has had today.”