Authorised Neutral Athletes at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics

The Authorised Neutral Athletes are Russian athletes who are permitted to compete in the 2017 World Championships in Athletics by special permission, despite the IAAF's suspension of the Russian Athletic Federation. In order to compete, Russian athletes must demonstrate that they were not involved in the doping scandal that precipitated Russia's suspension from international athletics.

Authorised Neutral Athletes at the
2017 World Championships in Athletics
The flag used by the Authorised Neutral Athletes
IAAF codeANA
in London, United Kingdom
4–13 August 2017
Competitors19 (12 men and 7 women) in 14 events
Medals
Gold
1
Silver
5
Bronze
0
Total
6
World Championships in Athletics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
 Soviet Union (URS) (1983–1991)
 Russia (RUS) (1993–2015)

Background
Main article: Doping in Russia

In July 2016, Richard McLaren presented the report of the WADA Commission in Toronto, Ontario, indicating systematic state-sponsored subversion of the drug testing processes by the government of Russia during and subsequent to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.[1] In December 2016, he published the second part of his report on doping in Russia.[2][3]

Some Russians have called the allegations an anti-Russian plot while others consider that Russia was "just doing what the rest of the world does".[4][5][6] Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had "never supported any violations in sport, we have never supported it at the state level, and we will never support this"[7] and that the allegations were part of an "anti-Russia policy" by the West.[8] Aleksei Pushkov, chairman of Russia's parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said that the IAAF's decision to uphold its ban was "an act of political revenge against Russia for its independent foreign policy."[8] A member of Russia's parliament, Vadim Dengin, stated, "The entire doping scandal is a pure falsification, invented to discredit and humiliate Russia."[9] After the Court of Arbitration for Sport turned down an appeal by Russian athletes, pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva wrote, "Let all those pseudo clean foreign athletes breathe a sigh of relief and win their pseudo gold medals in our absence. They always did fear strength."[10] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the ruling a "crime against sport".[11] A poll by the Levada Center found that 14% of Russians believed that the country's athletes had doped in Sochi, 71% did not believe WADA's reports, and 15% decided not to answer.[12]

A spokesman for Putin called Stepanova a "Judas".[13] The Russian media have also criticised the Stepanovs. Yuliya Stepanova said, "All the news stories call me a traitor and not just traitor but a traitor to the Motherland."[14] Vitaly Stepanov said, "I wasn't trying to expose Russia, I was trying to expose corrupt sports officials that are completely messing up competitions not just inside the country but globally."[15] Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that the Russian media portrayed the German documentaries as "part of a Western conspiracy with the aim of weakening the great nation that Vladimir Putin lifted from its knees."[16] Hajo Seppelt had the "impression that he and the Stepanovs were being styled as enemies of the state".[16]

Dick Pound described Russia's response as "a bit like when you get stopped for speeding on the freeway by the police and you say 'why me? everyone else was doing it'."[17] He stated that if Russia's authorities had "responded to their issues they could easily have enough time to sort everything out in time for Rio. But instead they played the role of victims, claiming there was a plot against them for too long."[17] Leonid Bershidsky, a Russian writer for Bloomberg View, wrote that Russia's "officials need to understand that "whataboutism" doesn't avert investigations".[5] The Moscow correspondent of Deutsche Welle, Juri Rescheto, wrote that the response he saw in Russia "shows that the country is living in a parallel universe" and seeks to blame others.[18] Writing for The New York Times, Andrew E. Kramer said that Russia responded to the IAAF's decision against reinstatement with "victimhood" reflecting a "culture of grievances that revolves around perceived slights and anti-Russian conspiracies taking place in the outside world, particularly in Western countries".[8] The newspaper's editorial board also saw a "narrative of victimization" in Russia, and wrote that it resembled how the Soviet Union would respond to a punishment – by saying that it was "politically motivated, always a provocation, never justified. [Even] though the Cold War is long over, President Vladimir Putin remains stuck in the same, snarling defensive crouch in his responses to any accusations of Russian foul play".[19] Andrew Osborn of Reuters wrote that the Russian government had "deftly deflected the blame by passing it off as a Western Cold War-style plot to sabotage Russia's international comeback."[20] In response to Russia's opinion that the allegations were "politically motivated", WADA's former chief investigator, Jack Robertson, said that he saw politics "when Craig Reedie tried to intervene by writing emails to the Russian ministry to console them."[21]

Match TV said that Americans had orchestrated the doping scandal and modern pentathlon champion Aleksander Lesun called it an unfair "attack" because "Doping is in all countries and there are violators everywhere."[22] Following the IOC's announcement on 24 July 2016, Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said it was "a just and fair decision and we hope every federation will take the same kind of decision. Doping is a worldwide evil, not only of Russia."[23] The Russian media's reaction was "nearly euphoric at points."[22]

A reporter from Russian state-owned television told IOC President Thomas Bach that "It looked like you personally were helping us" and asked whether the doping investigation was a "political attack" on Russian athletes.[24] After Russian athletes said that McLaren was about "politics" rather than sport, the British biathlon association stated that their comments were "brain-washed, deluded and dishonest" and decided to boycott an event in Russia.[25] Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko said that athletes should be "punished" for calls to boycott.[26]

Petitions for inclusion

In 2016 and 2017 they were permitted to compete in the championship through special permission granted by the IAAF. The IAAF had suspended the Russian national federation from competing due to breach of anti-doping rules,[27] and Klishina was the only member of the athletics team allowed to compete. This was then reversed on 13 August 2016.[6] Klishina immediately appealed the decision, saying that she is "a clean athlete and have proved that already many times and beyond any doubt. Based in the US for three years now, I have been almost exclusively tested outside of the Anti-Doping system in question. I am falling victim to those who created a system of manipulating our beautiful sport and is guilty of using it for political purposes."[6][28] On 15 August 2016, the eve of the long jump event, Klishina's appeal was upheld, once again allowing her to compete in the Olympics.[29]

Medalists
Medal Athlete Event Date
 Gold Mariya Lasitskene Women's high jump 12 August 2017
 Silver Sergey Shubenkov Men's 110 metres hurdles 7 August 2017
 Silver Darya Klishina Women's long jump 11 August 2017
 Silver Valeriy Pronkin Men's hammer throw 11 August 2017
 Silver Sergey Shirobokov Men's 20 kilometres walk 13 August 2017
 Silver Danil Lysenko Men's high jump 13 August 2017

Result

Men
Track and road events
Athlete Event Heat Semifinal Final
Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank
Sergey Shubenkov 110 metres hurdles 13.47 15 Q 13.22 3 q 13.14
Sergey Shirobokov 20 kilometres walk N/A 1:18.55
Field events
Athlete Event Qualification Final
Distance Position Distance Position
Ilya Ivanyuk High jump 2.29 7 q 2.25 =6
Danil Lysenko 2.31 3 Q 2.32
Ilya Mudrov Pole vault 5.45 22 Did not advance
Aleksandr Menkov Long jump 8.07 5 Q 8.27 4
Aleksandr Lesnoy Shot put 19.67 26 Did not advance
Viktor Butenko Discus throw 59.29 23 Did not advance
Sergey Litvinov Hammer throw 73.48 17 Did not advance
Valeriy Pronkin 75.09 10 q 78.16
Aleksey Sokirskiy 75.50 8 Q 77.50 SB 5
Combined events – Decathlon
Athlete Event 100 m LJ SP HJ 400 m 110H DT PV JT 1500 m Final Rank
Ilya Shkurenyov Result 11.17 7.62 SB 13.48 2.08 49.02 DQ DNS DNS – – DNF –
Points 823 965 697 878 860 0 0 0

Women
Track and road events
Athlete Event Heat Semifinal Final
Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank
Klavdiya Afanaseva 20 kilometres walk N/A DQ –
Field events
Athlete Event Qualification Final
Distance Position Distance Position
Irina Gordeeva High jump 1.89 16 Did not advance
Mariya Lasitskene 1.92 1 q 2.03
Olga Mullina Pole vault 4.55 8 q 4.55 8
Anzhelika Sidorova NH – Did not advance
Darya Klishina Long jump 6.66 1 q 7.00
Vera Rebrik Javelin throw NM – Did not advance

References
  1. "WADA: Russian sports ministry oversaw doping cover-ups during Sochi Olympics". Business Day Live, July 18, 2016
  2. "Electronic Documentary Package of the IP Professor Richard H. McLaren, O.C." December 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-01-28. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  3. "McLaren Independent Investigation Report into Sochi Allegations - Part II". World Anti-Doping Agency. 9 December 2016.
  4. MacFarquhar, Neil (21 July 2016). "A Doping Scandal Appears Unlikely to Tarnish Russia's President". The New York Times.
  5. Bershidsky, Leonid (10 November 2015). "Doping Shows Russia Is Rotten, But Not Hopeless". Bloomberg View.
  6. Grohmann, Karolos; Stubbs, Jack (14 August 2016). "Russia athletics suffers final disgrace as last competitor barred". Reuters.
  7. Ferguson, Kate (18 June 2016). "Vladimir Putin insists 'Russia does not support doping'". The Scotsman.
  8. Kramer, Andrew E. (17 June 2016). "Olympic Ban Adds to Russia's Culture of Grievances". The New York Times.
  9. Nemtsova, Anna (17 June 2016). "Russia: America and the West 'Invented' Olympic Doping Scandal to 'Humiliate' Us". The Daily Beast.
  10. McGowan, Tom; Sinnott, John (21 July 2016). "Russia Olympic ban: Six questions answered". CNN.
  11. "Rio Olympics 2016: Russia fails to overturn athlete ban for next month's Games". BBC News. 21 July 2016.
  12. "Most Russians Unconvinced by WADA Doping Reports – Poll". The Moscow Times. 29 July 2016.
  13. "IAAF Taskforce: Interim report to IAAF Council, 17 June 2016" (PDF). IAAF. 17 June 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-29. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  14. Schwartz, Daniel (13 January 2016). "Whistleblowers Yuliya and Vitaly Stepanov describe Russia's sports doping system". CBC News.
  15. Cherry, Gene (10 May 2016). "Whistleblower nearly aborted efforts to expose Russian doping". Reuters.
  16. Schmidt, Friedrich; Hanfeld, Michael (11 June 2016). "Stell dir vor, das russische Staatsfernsehen kommt" [When Russian TV shows up]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German).
  17. Majendie, Matt (16 June 2016). "Dick Pound warns of chaos if IOC overrule IAAF over Russia's bid for Olympic Games". London Evening Standard.
  18. Rescheto, Juri (9 June 2016). "Opinion: Russia's parallel universe". Deutsche Welle.
  19. "Russia Blames Others for Its Doping Woes". The New York Times. 29 August 2016.
  20. Osborn, Andrew (22 July 2016). "Doping scandal rocks Russian sport but Putin's ratings look safe". Reuters.
  21. Epstein, David (4 August 2016). "On Eve of Olympics, Top Investigator Details Secret Efforts to Undermine Russian Doping Probe". ProPublica.
  22. Luhn, Alec (24 July 2016). "Russia greets IOC decision on Rio Games with relief and jubilation". The Guardian.
  23. "US doping chief says IOC have left a 'confusing mess'". RTÉ. 24 July 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-07-25.
  24. Powell, Michael (4 August 2016). "I.O.C. Chief Thomas Bach Supports a Peculiar Form of Justice on Doping". The New York Times.
  25. "GBR Lead Boycott of WC 8 in Tyumen RUS". British Biathlon. 21 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-12-23. Retrieved 2017-08-05.
  26. "Russia loses sporting events as federations act on doping storm". Agence France-Presse. Yahoo News. 22 December 2016.
  27. "Rio 2016: Russia's Darya Klishina cleared to compete as 'neutral'". BBC Sport. 2016-07-10.
  28. "Darya Klishina".
  29. Stubbs, Jack (15 August 2016). "Exclusive: Russia's Klishina to compete after appeal upheld". Reuters.
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