CAS has overruled the IOC’s decision that Russian athletes, who have served a doping sanction, will not be allowed to compete in the Olympic Games in Rio.
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A top Russian official has said that at least 271 athletes would compete in the Rio Olympics after clearing a doping probe which has slashed their team to its smallest size in more than a century.
Isinbayeva also noted that Russian long-jumper athlete Daria Klishina can take part in the games in Rio, as “she has lived in America for three years”.
The IOC allowed most of the team to compete despite a recommendation of a total ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), after its investigators found evidence of widespread state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.
As a outcome, the appeal has been partially upheld on that limited ground but all other prayers for relief have been rejected, including 1) the request that Yulia Efimova be directly declared eligible to participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and 2) the request to oblige the IOC to accept the entry of Yulia Efimova to compete in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Like in the case Karabelshikova & Podshivalov v/ International Rowing Federation (FISA), which was decided earlier today by a CAS Panel, the Panel of CAS arbitrators in charge of this matter also confirmed that point 3 of the IOC Executive Board’s decision of 24 July 2016 is unenforceable.
The team would consist of about 271 athletes drafted from the original list of 389.
Given the volume of testing to which it has been subjected, Zhukov said, the Russian team “is probably the cleanest in Rio”.
Some in the worldwide sports community had called for the entire Russian team to be banned as punishment.
Several worldwide federations announced separately Thursday that they had received the final approval for Russian entries in their events, including boxing, judo, equestrian, volleyball and golf. That report resulted in the Russian track and field team being banned from global competition, and the worldwide Association of Athletics Federations extended that ban through the Olympics.
Wrestler Viktor Lebedev and sailor Pavel Sozykin were waiting to hear the result of appeals to CAS against their exclusion from Rio.
The Russian delegation, battling allegations of state-backed doping, got only lukewarm applause when they entered the Maracana stadium.
Martasidis, who was to compete in the 85kg category, had arrived in Rio hours earlier only to be informed of a positive test from an out-of-competition doping control, his team said.
CAS rejected the athletes’ appeal to be granted direct entry into the games, saying it was now up to the worldwide rowing and swimming federations to decide whether to let them in or not.
But it said the International Olympic Committee was wrong to insist Russian athletes who had previously been sanctioned could not go to the Games, calling the decision “unenforceable”.
It’s not the first time CAS has struck down an International Olympic Committee anti-doping measure.
And the Stepanovs’ statement launched a stinging attack on the IOC, accusing them of failing to live by the Olympic charter. That rule does not apply to athletes from other countries. “Right now I think the discussion is not honest and practical, it is hysterical and political”. “The hard question we had to answer was: Can you hold an individual responsible for the wrongdoing of his or her country?”
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However McLaren, who says the International Olympic Committee did not speak to him or his team about their finding before letting Russians compete subject to certain conditions, claims the International Olympic Committee has turned his conclusions on their head.
