By Thomas Giles |
Russian officials insisted they are committed to anti-doping initiatives after hosting a meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) confirmed it met with an IOC delegation in Moscow.
Pere Miró, the IOC’s National Olympic Committees (NOCs) relations director, attended and was met by ROC President Alexander Zhukov and Stanislav Pozdnyakov, first vice-president of the ROC.
A wide range of topics were discussed including the “priority areas” of further cooperation between the two organizations following the ROC’s reinstatement by the IOC.
The country was forced to compete neutrally as the Olympic Athletes of Russia (OAR) at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics in February after the IOC suspended the nation.
This came after their manipulation of the doping program at their home Sochi 2014 Games.
The IOC controversially reinstated the ROC just three days after Pyeongchang 2018, however.
It came despite Russia failing to officially acknowledge the findings of the McLaren Report, which accused the country of state-sponsored doping.
Additionally, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) is still deemed to be non-compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Miró said that positive discussion had been held between the two organizations, according to an ROC press release.
“The ROC is one of the major and more important National Olympic Committees of the world,” he said.
“In recent years it has been carrying out a large number of activities and projects, helping in a very effective manner to the development of the sport and Olympism in Russia.
“Following our discussions, we have been informed that the ROC is ready to take a very important role in promoting anti-doping educational programs in Russia.
“This will be particularly focused on young athletes, their coaches, their entourage, and National Sport Federations.
“We are convinced that the ROC aims to show to the world how seriously this problem is treated in Russia.
“Of course, the country can rely on the assistance and support from the whole Olympic Community in performing this important mission.
“On top of this, ROC has expressed its commitment in assisting other NOCs, in the fields that it has a major expertise through the Olympic Solidarity programs.”
Russia was reinstated by the IOC so soon after Pyeongchang 2018 despite two of their OAR athletes failing drug tests at the South Korean Games.
This included mixed doubles curler Aleksandr Krushelnitckii who was stripped of his bronze medal alongside playing partner and wife Anastasia Bryzgalova.
“Our cooperation with the IOC in the field of anti-doping education was the key topic at our meeting,” Pozdnyakov added.
“We, for our part, have given a detailed account of the ROC’s plan to hold a major anti-doping forum for young people on June 1 in cooperation with international experts and together with RUSADA and the Moscow Sports Committee.
“As part of this event we are going to prepare an educational program for potential participants of the forthcoming Summer 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.
“This project received the full highest level support of the IOC.”
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.