Mikhail Butov’s Statement
16.01.2016
Dear Friends, dear Colleagues,
For the large part of my adult life I have dedicated my professional career to serving you and helping to make Russian Athletics great.
I have had wonderful experiences organising great events in Russia and getting to know most of you better, some of best people any man could ever dream of meeting and working with.
As you know, we are living in difficult times for our sport and our athletes and their very existence in the Olympic Games, the highlight of any athletes life, is in great danger.
As General Secretary I am spending every hour of every day working closely with the IAAF Council, European Athletics, the Anti Doping and Russian Sports authorities, IAAF Taskforce and Interim Coordination Committee of the Russian Olympic Committee.
The importance of this mission cannot be underestimated and I take these tasks very seriously.
Therefore, after a lot of thought and soul searching I have decided to withdraw my candidacy for the presidency of Russian Athletics Federation so I can put all my energies into being successful In these tasks and ensuring our athletes wear Russian vests in the Rio Olympics.
I would like to thank all the people who supported me for this great office and I will do my best to repay your faith in me while continuing in my role as the General Secretary. I’m sure it will be no any questions to me from WADA and IAAF concerning previous years and my current work.
Dear Friends, we all live to see our athletes competing on the world stage and I want to thank you all for the work you have done and continue to do for Russian Athletics.
Trust me, we need all your efforts and support now more than ever.
Kind regards,
Mikhail Butov,
Russian Athletics federation
General secretary
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