Russian track president steps aside over government job

The Russian cabinet appointed Ivanov as deputy director of a government anti-trust body last month, one month after the CAS ruling.Ivanov was elected to the presidency on Nov. 30 for a four-year term and had been expected to push through reforms to finally lift a suspension imposed on the federation in 2015 over widespread doping.RusAF has until March 1 to submit an anti-doping plan after World Athletics deemed the first draft seriously deficient in September.

The Russian track federation's president stepped aside Saturday after taking a job with a government agency, bringing more leadership churn to a body that is already suspended from World Athletics over doping.

The federation, known as RusAF, said that Pyotr Ivanov would officially remain president but relinquish his authority until December 2022. That's when restrictions imposed on Russian sports officials by a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling expire.

Irina Privalova, gold medalist in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2000 Olympics, will take temporary charge at RusAF.

The CAS ruling blocks Russian government representatives from sitting on the boards of a range of sports bodies. The Russian cabinet appointed Ivanov as deputy director of a government anti-trust body last month, one month after the CAS ruling.

Ivanov was elected to the presidency on Nov. 30 for a four-year term and had been expected to push through reforms to finally lift a suspension imposed on the federation in 2015 over widespread doping.

RusAF has until March 1 to submit an anti-doping plan after World Athletics deemed the first draft ''seriously deficient'' in September. If the plan isn't confirmed soon, that could block Russian athletes from being allowed to compete under neutral status at next month's European indoor championships in Poland.

RusAF was without a president for much of 2020 after Dmitry Shlyakhtin stepped down in Nov. 2019, facing a disciplinary charge of obstructing an investigation into why an athlete wasn't available for drug testing. Businessman Yevgeny Yurchenko took over in Feb. 2020 but resigned five months later amid financial problems at the federation.

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