MOSCOW — Former Olympic 800m champion Yury Borzakovsky was named Monday as head coach of the Russian athletics team with the goal of preparing for the Rio Olympics in 2016 in the wake of a damaging doping scandal. The 33-year-old Borzakovsky, who ended his career in January, has acted as interim coach since Feb. 6 after Valentin Maslakov stepped down following a rash of positive doping tests involving top Russian athletes.
"We have information that Borzakovsky was appointed as the new head coach of the country's athletics squad," the R-Sport news agency quoted Mikhail Butov, the secretary general of the Russian Athletics Federation, as saying Monday.
Borzakovsky, who claimed Olympic gold in 2004 as well as two world silvers and two bronze medals between 2003-11, said in an interview last week that there would "be no radical changes in the team's program for the 2016 Olympics preparations".
"Our main goal is to prepare the team's current leaders and those who took a break after the 2012 Games for the Olympics in Rio in the best possible way."
Russia has been accused of using widespread doping in sport and is under investigation by track and field's governing body, the IAAF, and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
It claimed a notable scalp last month when Russian Athletics Federation chief Valentin Balakhnichev resigned, bringing to an end his 24-year reign.— Reuters
