Athletics is an important sport in Russia, which is considered the leading European nation in athletics. Russian athletes competed in international athletics competitions such as Olympic Games or World athletics championships. Athletics is governed in Russia by the All-Russia Athletic Federation.
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Olympic Games
As the Russian Empire, the nation first competed at the 1900 Games, and returned again in 1908 and 1912. After the Russian revolution in 1917, and the subsequent establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, it would be thirty years until Russian athletes once again competed at the Olympics, at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian athletes participated in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona as part of the Unified Team. Since then, Russia has competed at every edition of the Olympic Summer Games starting with the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Doping ban
In December 2014, a documentary by German broadcaster ARD made wide-ranging allegations of state involvement in systematic doping in Russian athletics, accusing Russia of an "East German-style" doping programme. The allegations resulted in the resignation of ARAF President Valentin Balakhnichevas Treasurer of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) subsequently investigated the allegations. The 323-pages report, published on 9 November 2015, confirmed widespread doping and large-scale cover ups by the authorities. It recommended that the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) be declared non-compliant with respect to the World Anti-Doping Code, and recommended that the International Olympic Committee not accept any entries from ARAF until compliance was reached. Based on this report, which The Guardian described as "damning", the IAAF council overwhelmingly voted 22–1 in favour of prohibiting Russia from world sports events with immediate effect, in its 13 November session. Russia has been also prohibited from hosting the 2016 World Race Walking Team Championships (Cheboksary) and 2016 World Junior Championships (Kazan), and ARAF must entrust doping cases to Court of Arbitration for Sport. AFAR accepted the indefinite IAAF suspension and did not request a hearing. ARAF's efforts towards regaining full IAAF membership will be monitored by a five-person IAAF team.