Russia Still Doubtful For Rio Olympics- IAAF President

Russian Athletes are still doubtful for this year's Rio Olympic games despite making a considerable effort to combat doping in the country.

The IAAF president, Lord Coe have also placed five more nations under "critical care".

Russia's athletics federation was suspended by the sport's governing body in November after being accused of "state-sponsored" doping.

A taskforce, set up by Coe, said Russia has made "considerable progress" but there is "significant work to be done".

Ethiopia, Morocco, Ukraine, Kenya and Belarus are also under scrutiny.

Lord Coe said: "Ethiopia and Morocco, as a matter of urgency, both need to implement adequate and robust testing in and out of competition.

"Kenya, Ukraine and Belarus have been put on a monitoring list for 2016 to strengthen their anti-doping regimes and make sure their journey to compliance is completed by the end of the year.

"There are no immediate sanctions. It is just a wake-up call. Sanctions will only be considered if they don't comply with requirements."

The double Olympic champion also confirmed that a final decision on whether a Russian athletics team would compete in Rio would be made at the next IAAF council meeting, which will be convened for that specific purpose in May.

Russia was suspended following the publication of an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report that examined allegations of doping, cover-ups, and extortion in its athletics.

It must demonstrate it meets Wada and IAAF rules before being readmitted into the sport and, potentially, allowed to compete in the Rio Olympics.

The suspended Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) must also be able to operate without interference, following claims that the country's security services were involved in the doping programme.

Rune Andersen, a former director of Wada, leads the five-strong IAAF taskforce which is examining Russia's anti-doping procedures.

"Russian authorities have made significant progress to meeting many of the verification criteria established by the IAAF, including changing president and council," Andersen said.

"The view of taskforce is there is significant work still to be done to satisfy the reinstatement conditions."

The Norwegian says Russia was slow to set up drug-testing procedures and must speak to athletes and coaches named in the Wada commission report to understand the "nature and scope" of previous doping activities.

"Some of the verification criteria still needs significant work," he added. "Including interviewing athletes and coaches who have had anti-doping reported against them.

"The conclusion to the taskforce is to recommend no reinstatement at this stage."

Russia has been told its first job must be to address the culture of doping.

Andersen added: "That's not an easy task and might take, as the sports minister in Russia indicated, years to do.

"It's a big job and they're just at the beginning of this." BBC