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≡ ALL-RUSSIAN ATHLETICS FED. ≡
With the late withdrawal of Moscow Athletics Federation head Oleg Kurbatov, there was only one candidate for the Chair of the All-Russian Athletics Federation, Petr Fradkov. He was elected last Saturday.
The head of Russia’s Promsvyazbank, Fradkov, 46, has been involved with the ARAF as the head of its Board of Trustees since 2022. His candidacy was supported by the Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev, ensuring his election whether Kurbatov remained in the election or not.
Fradkov told the Russian news agency TASS that he was optimistic about the future of the Russian federation, despite its continuing ban from international competitions:
“Of course, the situation is not simple, some people think that it is complicated. Not at all, I don’t think so.
“We went through a difficult period of the anti-doping ban, and successfully emerged from it in 2023 – this is an important event. Now we will establish relations based on the principles of openness and professionalism.
“Like other [Russian] federations, we have restrictions related to not allowing our athletes with our flag. But I think it’s not a big deal. This time should be used to hold better quality internal competitions, strengthen the federation in terms of competition and use windows of opportunity to interact with friendly countries.”
World Athletics banned Russian athletes beginning in November 2015 in view of the state-sponsored doping program operated from 2011-15, finally lifted in 2023. However, World Athletics instituted a continuing ban on Russian participation in international meets owing to the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Fradkov talked about his focus for the immediate future:
“The ARAF will have to solve a wide range of issues that meet national priorities in the sports sphere, and the first step on this path will be the development of a comprehensive strategy for the development of athletics in the Russian Federation.
“We will focus on the development of children’s, youth and junior sports, mass and professional sports and high-performance sports. It is also necessary to overcome the consequences of long periods of isolation: this includes attracting foreign athletes to our competitions, and the participation of Russian athletes in championships in other countries, and inviting specialists from all over the world to exchange experience, all this is a lot of work that will help us restart relations with the international athletics federation [World Athletics] in order to provide Russian athletes with the opportunity to participate in world competitions.”
Fradkov noted that special attention will be paid to the development of track and field infrastructure:
“It is necessary to conduct an audit of arenas, stadiums and throwing fields, and also, based on the needs of the regions, develop a plan for the development of infrastructure for organizing the training process and high-level competitions.
“Particular attention will be paid to the preparation of track and field athletes and the retention of talented coaches, which will allow the creation of a sports reserve in the country. In addition, among the priority tasks is the development of positions for import substitution.”
Russian track & field athletes have not competed in an Olympic Games since Rio in 2016, and there, only one performer – women’s long jumper Darya Klishina, who lived in the U.S. and was tested by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency – was allowed to participate (she finished ninth).
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