Yulia Tarasenko was appointed as interim president of Russia’s athletics body on Saturday following the suspension of previous head Dmitry Shlyakhtin by World Athletics.
Tarasenko, the RUSAF sports director and head of the athletics federation of St. Petersburg, immediately saught to reassure Russian athletes she would fight their corner.
“We’re not in a very joyful mood, the situation is very difficult in the federation, but we think there is a chance to fight for the federation,” she said.
“We represent athletes and they should not suffer,” the new acting president Tarasenko told journalists.
Tarasenko was picked from three candidates after Dmitry Shlyakhtin resigned from the post of RUSAF president.
Russian athletics’ crisis deepened following Thursday’s ruling by the Athletics Integrity Unit of global governing body World Athletics, which suspended Russia’s reinstatement process and accused RUSAF of obstructing a probe into high-jumper Danil Lysenko.
