The CAS said in a Thursday release that the “IOC Decision deprives the Russian athletes of the presumption of innocence and rather establishes a presumption of guilt”. The court is tasked with mediating disputes involving the Olympics.
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This decision was rendered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, CAS, in two rulings, which include the two Russian rowers Anastasia Karabelshikova and Ivan Podshivalov along with the Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova. In rowing, swimming, and numerous other events, governing bodies cleared some athletes and blocked others.
He said: “The first analysis has been done by the global federations; they got further advice from professor McLaren, who elaborated in some cases on his report and gave further evidence and advice”.
A similar rule by the British Olympic Association to ban the nation’s drugs cheats from Olympic participation for life was also rejected by CAS ahead of the 2012 London Games, allowing sprinter Dwain Chambers to race.
It followed a report that found evidence of a four-year, state-run doping program. This is still better for Russian Federation than what anti-doping officials had called for: a ban on the entire country. The decision was in a way a victory for Russian Federation.
Only one IOC member raised his hand in opposition to Bach’s question: Britain’s Adam Pengilly, whose term on the committee ends after these Olympics.
The IOC announced the go-ahead for 271 Russian athletes on Thursday night, about 24 hours before the opening ceremony.
Despite drugs investigations which have robbed Russian Federation of almost a third of its original team, the mood in the camp was bullish on the eve of the Rio Games’ gala opening.
He said that the engagement, not separation was the input to make a functioning and healthier world anti-doping system.
The IOC said it consulted with top officials for the Games’ 28 sports to determine which athletes would be banned.
They were asking for immediate approval to compete, which they have not been granted, but sport’s highest court has ruled against the IOC’s attempt to bar Russian Federation from entering any athlete who has been sanctioned before. No matter that this resulted from a system that put pressure on her to dope, and that she had the courage to speak out against it later, at tremendous risk to her career – and, in Vladimir Putin’s police state, her life.
In a dramatic opening day to a traditional pre-Games assembly of International Olympic Committee bosses this week in Rio, drugs commanded the spotlight.
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Also in that mix is Los Angeles, and USOC leadership has been working hard for years to build a stronger relationship with the International Olympic Committee, in part to be in better position to eventually bring the Summer Games back to the United States for the first time since 1996. “Doping samples have been taken from 75 per cent of the (Russian) athletes”, Kazikov told Tass news agency.
