Moscow (AFP)

The stars of Russian athletics Maria Lasitskene, Sergey Shubenkov and Anzhelika Sidorova questioned Vladimir Putin on Tuesday on the "catastrophic situation" of their sport, calling on him to act not to be deprived of the Tokyo Olympics.

"We want to draw your attention to the catastrophic situation of our sport. We are on the verge of final chaos and the destruction of athletics," they wrote in an open letter published in their respective social accounts.

"We have already missed the Olympics and it is quite possible that we will also miss the next Tokyo Games", they add, however estimating that the problem "does not concern so much our careers, which will end sooner or later, but Russian athletics as a whole. "

In their letter, the three athletes also point out that Vladimir Putin had, in May 2019, ordered the Russian Olympic Committee to restore order to the Russian Athletics Federation (Rusaf).

"A year has passed, the order has not been executed and the situation has only gotten worse", they regret, expressing concern that with "so many sports facilities in our country , in which real professionals work, we still do not see a concrete plan to overcome this protracted crisis. "

The Rusaf has until July 1 to pay a fine of five million dollars imposed in March by the international federation (World Athletics). If it does not pay by the deadline, its quota of ten Russian athletes authorized to participate in the Tokyo Games in 2021 under a neutral banner will be suspended.

A week before the deadline, the leaders of the Federation repeat that they do not have the necessary money. Quoted by the specialized site Sports.ru, the vice-president of Rusaf Edouard Bezouglov estimated last week that only "the government, be rich patrons" were able to pay the fine.

Rusaf's president Yevgeny Yurtchenko, quoted by the TASS news agency, said that it was "necessary to respond in a concrete and clear manner" to this letter, adding that "our negotiations with World Athletics and cooperation with the country's sports authorities (...) are continuing ".

"In the very near future, Rusaf will provide detailed comments on all of these issues," he added.

World Athletics froze in November 2019 the process allowing handpicked athletes to participate in competitions outside Russia, Rusaf accused of helping 2017 vice height world champion Danil Lysenko to escape punishment for breaches of his localization obligations for unexpected doping controls.

The body also froze the reintegration process of Russia, suspended since November 2015 for having established an institutional doping system.

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