Russia still banned, but ‘things change’, says Sebastian Coe

Agency :
The Olympic door for Russian track and field athletes remains firmly shut, Sebastian Coe said on Dec 18, but the World Athletics President also offered them a glimmer of hope by acknowledging that “the world changes” and highlighted a working group that is monitoring the situation.

Earlier in December, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that Russians and Belarusians who qualify in their sport for the Paris 2024 Games can take part as neutrals without flags, emblems or anthems, changing the position of their original blanket ban following the invasion of Ukraine.

That followed a recommendation in March that put the onus on international sports federations to decide, with most of them moving to allow the two countries’ athletes to return.

Athletics, the Games’ biggest and most popular sport, immediately responded by saying it would keep its ban in place, but Coe seemed less certain when speaking to journalists on Dec 18.

“There is no change,” he said.

“The most important thing is the autonomy and independence of international federations to make these judgments. We made a judgment which we believe was in the best interest of our sport.

“Do I see anything changing in the foreseeable future? I don’t know.

The world changes every five minutes, the situation could change.

We do have a working group that is monitoring the situation within the sport and it will advise and guide (the policymaking) council on what circumstances might need to exist for any exclusion to be lifted.”

The Olympics will be sandwiched between three editions of the World Championships (2022, 2023 and 2025) and Coe said his sport was in a great place after a “stupendous” year.

“I can’t remember a season that has delivered more high-quality performances across a broader bandwidth of disciplines,” he said.

“I think Budapest (2023) was the best World Championships we’ve ever had and there were seven world records in an outstanding season.”

However, he also again addressed the need to keep his sport relevant to the next generation of fans, pointing to the upcoming Netflix series that followed the leading contenders in the men’s and women’s 100 metres in 2023.