The Independent Commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) presented on July 18 a report on the investigation into allegations of doping fraud at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.
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Olympic chiefs on Tuesday barred Russian sports ministry officials and administrators implicated in a huge state-run doping program but delayed a ruling on whether to take the unprecedented step of blocking the entire Russian Olympic team.
IAAF’s anti-doping department had rejected personal applications from all Russian athletes for participation in global competitions, including the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, except for long jumper Darya Klishina, who lives in the United States. The IOC will consider the verdict before it makes its final decision.
If the ban is upheld, it could give extra momentum to a campaign for Russia’s entire delegation across all sports to be banned from the Olympics, ahead of a key International Olympic Committee meeting Sunday. IAAF President Sebastian Coe also attended the hearing.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport turned down the Russian team’s appeal to compete in Rio de Janeiro in roughly two weeks.
No country as a whole has ever been barred from the games for doping, and Russian Federation is a major force in the Olympic movement as well as a sports powerhouse.
The report said that lots of the athletes had been using performance-enhancing drugs, and that some parts of the Russian government had been hiding it.
As per media reports, the CAS said the ROC would still be able to nominate athletes to compete as neutrals at the Games.
This may mean the matter is not entirely over, then, and the Russian authorities have already suggested that they will continue legal action.
“The Olympic Committee and the worldwide federations of different sports includes not only those countries which initiated it, but other countries as well”.
“The CAS Panel has confirmed the validity of the IAAF’s decision to apply Rules.which state that athletes whose national federation is suspended by the IAAF are ineligible for competitions held under the IAAF Rules”, a statement from the Lausanne based court said.
As expected Russia’s response had been one of despondence.
“We are speaking here about field and track athletes, who had been preparing hard for the Olympics, who have nothing to do with doping, who have nothing to do with any of the accusations and suspicions, who had regularly been tested by foreign anti-doping agencies”, Peskov continued.
“If there are those that are innocent, then it’s a big, big price to pay, to say we’re going to kick the whole nation out”.
“I think the competition, the energy, the work they have to put in to win the 100m in Rio will help my 200m and that’s really my focus, trying to break the 200m world record”.
“It’s time to disband the IAAF”, said Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko on Twitter, who also tweeted ‘”Corrupt judges!”
There is another complexity to the CAS ruling in that the panel accepts it does not have jurisdiction over the International Olympic Committee as it was not a party to this appeal.
If there isn’t a total ban, individual athletes may have to agree to an examination before they are given the green light to compete in their chosen sport.
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But with a world-wide push now calling for Russian Federation to be banned the IOC seemingly has the pathway to make what would be one of the most significant decisions in Olympic history.
