Banning Russia from next year's Rio Olympics would be a "serious loss" for the world of athletics, legendary high jump coach Yevgeny Zagorulko told AFP on Friday.

Russia could be cast into exile by world athletics chiefs who meet Friday determined to make a stand over "state-sponsored" doping with exclusion from the 2016 Olympics a potential long-term consequence for Moscow.

"I don't believe that Russia's athletics squad or all the more the whole country's team will be banned," Zagorulko, 73, told AFP.

Russia have been accused of widespread doping by an independent commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in a report which has shaken track and field, one of the Olympic Games' flagship attractions.

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"It's only (WADA) recommendations. But if it happens it will be a great loss for the world of athletics," the Russian coach continued.

Zagorulko, who has coached Gennadi Avdeyenko, Yelena Yelesina, Andrei Silnov and Anna Chicherova to Olympic medals, believes the absence of Russian athletes would downgrade the level of the Games.

"Many athletes were deprived of a chance to compete at the Olympics in 1980 and 1984," he said.

"The reasons for their absence were different but the result was the same. The sports world suffered a serious loss."