IAAF votes to keep Russia banned, Rio participation in balance
By Mark Trevelyan and Jack Stubbs VIENNA/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian athletes' hopes of competing in the Rio Olympics are now at the mercy of the IOC after world athletics&039; governing body unanimously upheld its ban on the country for systematic doping on Friday, saying not enough progress had been made in reform. Russia, a superpower of track and field, had lobbied furiously to avert the prospect of a Summer Olympics athletics program taking place without its athletes, and argued that it was taking all the steps required of it to dispel charges of state-sponsored drug abuse. President Vladimir Putin denied on Friday that Russian authorities had ever colluded in doping, and urged authorities not to use sport to push an anti-Russian agenda.
