The trouble with Ostarine: Jimmy Wallhead’s
16th March 2018
Features
RusAF Order cements control over Athlete Commission
An Order published by the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) after the 10 January meeting of its Presidium emphasises that it has has the right to create or abolish the RusAF Athlete Commission, as well as to approve its members. The Order was issued in the absence of three of the five members of the RusAF Athlete Commission. RusAF announced that Angelica Sidorova (Анжелика Сидорова), Mariya Lasitskene (Мария Ласицкене), and Sergey Shubenkov (Сергей Шубенков) ‘refused to participate’ in the RusAF Presidium meeting.
‘The decision to create or abolish the Commission is taken by the Presidium of the Federation’, reads the 10 January Order (PDF below). ‘The staff of the Commission is approved by the Presidium of the Federation’, it continues. It outlines that members of the RusAF Athletes Commission have the right to recommend to the RusAF Presidium candidates from the RusAF Athletes Commission for election to the Athletes Commissions of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and World Athletics.
Guidelines issued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommend that that the majority of members of an Athlete Commission should be ‘elected by their peers’. In addition, they recommend that an Athlete Commission should elect its Chair from among members elected by those peers.
Nowhere in the above Order is a process mentioned for Russian athletes to elect members of the RusAF Athletes Commission. No articles can be found detailing the election of Marina Kuptsova (Марины Купцовой) as Chair of the RusAF Athletes Commission. It is understood that she was appointed as such on 19 October 2018. She resigned shortly before Christmas.
In a document published on Christmas Day, RusAF confirmed that its Athletes Commission currently has five members, all of whom are current or former members of the Central Army Sports Club (CSKA). This includes Sidorova, Lasitskene, Shubenkov, Sergey Litvinov (Сергей Литвинов), and Valentina Kosolapova (Валентина Косолапова). Lasitskene and Shubenkov were recently awarded the rank of CSKA Captain.
Kosolapova, 21, is the daughter of Andrey Kosolapov (Андрей Косолапов), Vice Governor of the Volgograd region and former Chair of the Volgograd City Duma. She is listed as the first member of the RusAF Athletes Commission in a document published on the RusAF internet site on Christmas Day. It is understood that the Chair of the RusAF Athletes Commission will be appointed during the RusAF Presidential elections on 28 February.
Former RusAF President Dmitry Shlyakhtin is listed as Head of the CSKA from 2009-12. Shlyakhtin remains Minister of Sport for the Samara region of Russia, about 500km further up the Volga River from Kosolapov’s Volgograd region. Shlyakhtin retains this position despite his resignation from RusAF on 23 November, after being one of five RusAF officials charged with involvement in obstructing an anti-doping investigation.
In an Open Letter, Sidorova, Lasitskene, and Shubenkov are critical of RusAF for changing the composition of its Athletes Commission without consulting its members. They also allege that RusAF delayed its Presidential elections to 28 February to avoid impacting the Russian Winter Indoor Championships, which will take place from 25-27 February. The Letter (below, in Russian) also questions why RusAF had asked the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics for an extension of its deadline for a response to its charges from 12 December to 2 January – a deadline which RusAF met.
RusAF maintains that Danil Lysenko asked Elena Orlova – one of the officials charged by the AIU – for help in translating Lysenko’s explanation for ‘whereabouts’ failures and his medical certificate, after which they were sent to World Athletics. High jumper Lysenko is also a former member of the RusAF Athletes Commission. RusAF contends that the translation process is what led to allegations of forged documentation. However, the AIU appears certain in its convictions, having spent 15 months investigating the case in cooperation with the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA).
