IAAF to rule on dozens of Russian 'neutral' cases next week

Published May. 18, 2017 10:18 a.m. ET

MONACO (AP) The IAAF will rule next week on whether dozens of Russians can compete as ''neutral athletes.''

The IAAF says it has received ''around 120 applications'' from Russian athletes who want to compete internationally despite a ban imposed in 2015 on the Russian team for widespread doping use.

IAAF officials have so far allowed 12 Russians to compete as neutrals and refused 17 more.

The governing body's doping review board is ''meeting next week to consider approximately 50 percent of the remaining applications.''

The review process includes retesting, using new techniques, samples that athletes gave at earlier competitions, as well as checking allegations by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren that athletes may have benefited from doping cover-ups at Moscow's drug-testing laboratory.