Russia restricted to 10 athletes in track at Tokyo Olympics

MONACO (AP) — Russia’s track team was limited to 10 athletes for the Tokyo Olympics and the country’s federation was fined $10 million by the sport’s governing body on Thursday.

World Athletics passed the latest package of sanctions after the Russian track federation’s new president accepted charges that fake documents were used under the previous management to give a top athlete an alibi for missing a doping test.

“Clearly the previous measures were not enough to change the culture in Russian athletics. We hope this further measure will be sufficient to provoke real change,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said.

World Athletics will restart a system to vet Russian competitors and allow them to compete as neutral athletes. They will be limited to 10 athletes at major events, but that limit can be raised later if World Athletics feels Russia is making progress on reforms.

Russia must pay $5 million of its fine by July 1, with the remainder suspended for two years, to be paid if the federation commits another anti-doping offense or fails to make what World Athletics considers “meaningful progress.”

Russia was allowed to field only one athlete in track and field at the 2016 Olympics, the U.S.-based long jumper Darya Klishina. Russia sent 29 officially neutral athletes to last year’s world championships, winning six medals.