Ennis-Hill hails Russia's omission from Olympics

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Jessica Ennis-Hill says she would still have doubts about Russian athletes at the 2016 Olympics even if the country convinces athletics organisations it should be allowed to compete in Rio.

Russia is banned from athletics after accusations of widespread doping.
Olympic and world heptathlon champion Ennis-Hill wants "drastic measures" in place if Russia is cleared to compete.
But she added: "I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't look at Russian athletes and think 'is everything 100% OK?'"

'The darkest place'

In addition to the problems in Russia, an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report said "corruption was embedded" within the the sport's governing body, the IAAF - which has been accused of helping to cover up doping in Russia.
"There is obviously a lot more to come out and it seems to be getting worse and worse," Ennis-Hill said in an interview with BBC Sport.
"As an athlete competing at this time, it's awful to see but at the same time you have to think that our sport has to go through this really terrible time.
"It has to go to the very bottom, to the darkest place for it to then rise and come out the other side."
She added: "It is very close [to the bottom].
"You put your faith and confidence in organisations to make sure the sport is governed well - but obviously that hasn't been the case. It needs to be addressed and it is a huge problem."

After Ennis-Hill's loss to Chernova
Ennis-Hill finished second behind Russia's Tatyana Chernova at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
That competition finished on 30 August 2011. Chernova was later banned for two years for doping and stripped of two years' results - but kept the gold medal she won by beating Ennis-Hill. A sample taken at the 2009 World Championships tested positive for a banned steroid and Chernova's records were annulled from 15 August 2009 to 14 August 2011.
"For me personally in my experiences competing against Chernova, I had the feeling that something wasn't quite right," said Ennis-Hill.

Why was Russia banned?

IAAF members voted 22-1 to ban Russia after the publication of an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report that alleged "state-sponsored doping".

The Wada commission, led by chairman Dick Pound, suggested Russian athletics federation Araf, Russia's anti-doping agency (Rusada) and Russia itself could not be considered anti-doping code-compliant, because of what it claimed was widespread cheating.
The report claimed to have evidence of "direct intimidation and interference by the Russian state with the Moscow laboratory operations", while Rusada gave athletes advance notice of tests, hid missed tests, bullied doping control officers and their families and took bribes to cover up missed tests, it said.
According to the commission's findings, London 2012 was "sabotaged" by "widespread inaction" against athletes with suspicious doping profiles.

                                                             'Focus on my performances'

Ennis-Hill won gold at 2012 London Olympics and, 13 months after giving birth to her first child, claimed a second world heptathlon title in 2015.
She will hope to put the controversy over doping to one side as she aims to retain her Olympic title in Rio.
"I'll be there to do a job and I don't want to be distracted by what other people are doing and what they are wrongly doing," she said.
"I want to focus on my performances and make sure I do that properly."

(c) BBC