The IAAF has announced the rest of the five-person panel that will monitor Russia's efforts to win reinstatement of its track and field federation. The IAAF provisionally suspended the Russian federation Friday after the country was accused of operating a state-sponsored doping program in a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency commission. The IAAF announced Friday that Norwegian anti-doping expert Rune Andersen would lead the inspection team. The other panel members, announced Tuesday, are: IAAF Council members Abby Hoffman of Canada, Anna Riccardi of Italy, Frank Fredericks of Namibia and Geoff Gardner of Norfolk Island. Andersen says: "It's on behalf of the innocent athletes who are Russia's athletics future that we begin our task to ensure that fair and honest competition is guaranteed." ‘Ban Russia' Leaders of the world's most prominent national anti-doping bodies Monday called for Russian track and field athletes to be banned from next year's Olympics, saying the sanction was necessary to deter drug cheats. A statement from the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations (iNADO), a 53-member umbrella group made the call on the eve of a key World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) meeting in Colorado Springs. Britain's David Kenworthy, the chairman of iNADO and head of UK Anti-Doping, said in a statement the vast state-supported doping program detailed by WADA's Independent Commission last week was a "tragedy for sport." WADA's commission recommended Russia and its national governing body for athletics be banned for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. On Friday, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) provisionally suspended Russia from all international competition. However, the IAAF action fell short of stating explicitly that Russian athletes would be barred from the Olympics, raising the prospect that they would be allowed to compete after all. But in a statement issued after an iNADO meeting in Colorado Monday, Kenworthy said Russian athletes needed to be banned to send a message. "The ARAF — Russia's national federation for athletics — and its athletes must be suspended from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Games," he said. WADA is expected to rule against Russia's anti-doping body when it meets in Colorado this week, a key session which will aim to build a framework for new strategies in the global war on drug cheats.
