January 25, 2017 – The latest news on the Russian doping front is new whisleblower, Andrey Dmitriev, a Russian 1,500m runner, has made serious allegations about athletics in Russia in an interview with German television network ARD, reports Anti Doping World. Dmitriev claims that coaches who have been banned for doping offences are allowed to continue to work at the professional level in Russia. Apparently Dmitriev has video footage that he shot secretly on January 12, 2017 which is said to feature Valdimir Kazarin, a suspended 800m coach, working with 400m runner Artem Denmukhametov in a sports complex.
“If everyone remains silent, as is usual in Russia, nothing will change,” Dmitriev told ARD also stating that Kazarin is not the only banned coach working and ARD claims he has provided a list of prominent Russian coaches who are still active despite the fact that they “are unable to work without doping,” says Dmitriev.
The International Association for Athletics Federations (IAAF) quickly took note of the claims and IAAF chief executive Olivier Gers is reported to have commented, “If it is indeed one of the coaches that has been provisionally suspended by the IAAF, then RusAF should have been in a position to enforce that suspension. And therefore RusAF has not fulfilled the conditions for reinstatement.”
Apparently the IAAF is meeting in Moscow this week to convene with the parties responsible, including the Russian Athletics Federation.
Meanwhile Dmitriev told ARD he believes that, “Maybe 70 or 80 percent [of Russian athletes] are dirty, and the rest of them are clean.” He remains skeptical that change will happen anytime soon. “You say that we are changing, but these people are still there. This is just hypocrisy for me. It’s lying. It’s imitating changes, but there are none really,” claims Dmitriev.
Read the full report here.