Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/783519
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2017 20 Sport SPORTTODAY ATHLETICS IAAF stops changes of allegiance, will set up new system THE governing body of world athletics (IAAF) has put an immediate stop to changes of nationality by athletes, saying the system has become open to abuse and rules are being ma- nipulated. IAAF President Sebastian Coe said a working group would be set up to agree new rules by the end of the year. "It has become abundantly clear that with regular multiple transfers of allegiance, especial- ly from Africa, the present rules are no longer fit for purpose," Coe told reporters on Monday. "Athletics has to be based on national teams and is particu- larly vulnerable," Coe added. "The rules do not provide pro- tection necessary for individual athletes, they are open to abuse. Many federations regularly re- ceive reports of athletes who are available for trade." The IAAF said the ban would not affect 15 applications to switch allegiance which have al- ready been made. Unlike other sports such as football, athletics allows its competitors to switch nationali- ties even after they have repre- sented one country at interna- tional level. Several dozen athletes changed allegiance on the eve of last year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, the African representative on the IAAF Council, will lead the working group. "The present situation is wrong," Malboum said. "What we have is a wholesale market for African talent open to the highest bidder. Our present rules are being manipulated to the detriment of athletics' cred- ibility. "Lots of the individual ath- letes concerned, many of whom are transferred at a young age, do not understand that they are forfeiting their nationality," he added. "Some are running for coun- tries but are not citizens of those countries... at the end of the competition they are not citizens of those countries, they don't have any future." In another decision, the IAAF Council approved Coe's pro- posal to end formal bidding pro- cesses for the hosting of major athletics events, including the world championships. Instead, the IAAF said it would assess "strategic goals" for grow- ing the sport, "targeting cit- ies from countries and regions which will best assist the deliv- ery of those aims". It said the new selection pro- cess would start with the award- ing of IAAF events after 2021. Sebastian Coe (C), IAAF's president, Rune Andersen, head of the IAAF taskforce on Russia (R) and Hamad Kalkaba Malboum (L), president of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) attend a press conference as part of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) council meeting in Monaco last Monday Russia set to miss London 2017 RUSSIA'S ban from internation- al athletics competition is set to extend beyond the World Cham- pionships in London in August, the International Association of Athletics Federations has an- nounced. The IAAF voted unanimously to extend the ban on the Rus- sian Athletics Federation, which was originally excluded in 2015 following allegations of state- sponsored doping. Rune Andersen, the inde- pendent chairman of the IAAF Taskforce, indicated RUSAF is unlikely to be reinstated until the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) declares the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) code-compliant in November. Andersen said: "The road map that I outlined... clearly states there will be no reinstatement until RUSADA is functioning... and presumably if everything goes to plan there will be a full reinstatement by November 2017. "This meant Russia as a nation, or RUSAF, is not recommended by us to be reinstated before that time." The IAAF said that it has cur- rently had applications from 35 individual Russian athletes to compete as international ath- letes. IAAF president Lord Coe added: "We have always been at pains to provide an opportunity for athletes who can demon- strate they are from a clean sys- tem, where we are comfortable that the registered testing pool is a valid one, and that they are under international supervision. "But most importantly we are not going to jeopardise the op- portunities and the chances of clean athletes who are compet- ing alongside them. We have always felt that that is a propor- tionate response." IAAF president Lord Coe