Maslakov to quit as Russian athletics head coach

The 70-year-old has been involved in coaching since 1973 and has helped train athletes from the former Soviet Union, the CIS and Russia.

He had been in charge of Russia since 2007, however he voluntarily decided to leave his role after the recent doping revelations that have rocked Russian athletics.

"This is a manly thing to do from an absolute professional in his business," the President of the Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA) Valentin Balakhnichev said in an interview with the website Team Russia 2016 (www.team-russia2016.ru).

"We discussed this together after the affect the doping revelations have had on Russian athletics. Even though Maslakov has nothing to do with anti-doping policies of the Russian athletics team, he could not stand by idly and decided to take responsibility for those who he was in charge of."

On Tuesday, the Russian Antidoping Agency RUSADA announced that three walking Olympic champions, Olga Kaniskina, Valery Borchin, Sergei Kirdyapkin, as well as the 2011 world champion Sergei Bakulin and the 2011 World silver medalist Vladimir Kanaykin had all been suspended for doping infringements.

Abnormal blood levels in the sportsmen's biological passports were the reasons for the suspensions.

As a result of these events, the Russian Minister for Sport, Vitaly Mutko announced that it was necessary to make structural and personnel changes within the VFLA.