Russian Athletes Preparing for Rio Olympics Despite IAAF's Ban

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Despite the International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) decision to reject individual applications of Russian athletes to participate in all international competitions, All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) together with Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the Russian Ministry of Sport are preparing the team for the 2016 Rio Olympics, ARAF said Sunday.

"ARAF does not agree with the IAAF decision from July 10 regarding Russian athletes and will all use legal ways to ensure Russian athletes participation in the Olympic Games.As for now, the Russian athletes continue the preparations for the biggest competition in the last four years and the Federation together with the Russian Ministry of Sport and ROC carries out all necessary technical and organizational work for the preparation of Russian athletic team for the Olympic Games," ARAF said in a press release.

ARAF added that the IAAF's decision to reject the applications puts under question the future of Russian athletics as it covers not only the Olympics but also such tournaments as the European Athletics U23 Championships and 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships.