Maria Lasitskene threatens to leave Russia because of doping scandal

Maria Lasitskene, an athlete from Kabardino-Balkaria, has announced that she will leave Russia to train in another country if the Russian Anti-Doping Agency is deprived of compliance status.

The scandal with the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (known as RUSADA), regarding which the procedure for revoking the compliance status has been launched, will affect Russian athletes who already have to compete under the neutral flag at the Doha World Cup, says Maria Lasitskene, an athlete from Kabardino-Balkaria.

According to Maria Lasitskene, if RUSADA is deprived of its compliance status, she will leave Russia to train in another country in order to participate in the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. "Recently, I have repeatedly said that we do not have confidence concerning our participation in the Olympic Games in Tokyo ... If [RUSADA] is again removed from the scene, then we will leave the country to train outside Russia in order to be accessible for international doping officers," wrote Maria Lasitskene on her Instagram page on September 24.

The athlete has also noted that she will "defend the right to perform at the Olympic Games." "If there is a need to go to the [Court of Arbitration for Sport], I will go and fight there namely for myself. I do not intend to skip the second Olympic Games in a row because of some obscure people who cannot honestly do their job," wrote Maria Lasitskene.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 26, 2019 at 11:21 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.