World Athletics removes Uzbekistan from its monitoring list

World Athletics has removed eight countries, including Uzbekistan, from its monitoring list, which was established to detect potential manipulation of competition results.

In September 2022, World Athletics revealed that the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had launched an investigation into suspicious results from the Tokyo Olympic qualification period, following 17 reports of questionable outcomes. As a result, a monitoring list was created to assess the integrity of competition results.

"After the 2024 annual report and the improvements made in referee standards and processes, the selection commission has decided to remove the following federations from the list: Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey, and Uzbekistan," the organization said in a statement.

It is important to note that in 2021, the World Athletics Council established the monitoring list to address issues related to incorrect qualification scores. Subsequently, the AIU received 17 individual requests to verify the Olympic qualification standards, leading to the launch of the monitoring list to detect potential competition manipulation.

World Athletics clarified that results from competitions organized by federations on the monitoring list would not be recognized, with exceptions for official events, such as recognized international or regional championships.