It would be "absurd" if Russian doping whistleblower Yulia Stepanova was allowed to compete at the Rio Olympics while clean Russian athletes are barred from the Games, R-Sport agency quoted Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko as saying on Monday.
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Yulia Stepanova, an international runner who was herself suspended for doping offences, and her husband Vitaly, a former Russian anti-doping agency official, secretly recorded Russian coaches and athletes over almost two years describing how they used performance-enhancing drugs.
The Russian Sports Ministry said on Tuesday it was open for closer cooperation with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in order to eliminate any irregularities committed by the Russian anti-doping watchdog and its accredited laboratory.
Following the ban on Russia in 2016, Russian athletes have been allowed to participate as neutrals at various events by the IAAF. For Tokyo, WADA will lay down a uniform criterion for all sporting disciplines to accept.
