Back to the Olympics Newsfeed

The Latest: Mutko writes open letter to help Russia's case

VIENNA (AP) — The Latest on the IAAF's meeting on Russia (all times local):

___

11:20 a.m.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has written an open letter aimed at persuading the IAAF to allow his country's track and field athletes to compete at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The IAAF will decide later Friday whether to readmit Russia, which was suspended in November following a World Anti-Doping Agency commission report detailing systematic, state-sponsored doping.

Mutko writes that Russia has reformed its anti-doping system and that a ban from Rio for the entire track team would be unfair collective punishment for a problem which also exists in other countries.