The Olympic ban of the Russian track and field team was upheld by the appeals court on Thursday.
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The court, stationed in Lausanne, Switzerland, maintained the “validity” of the IAAF ban, deciding that a country whose national federation is suspended is ineligible from entering worldwide competitions (including the Olympics.) The three person panel unanimously ruled that “is not entitled to nominate Russian track and field athletes to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games considering that they are not eligible to participate under the IAAF competition rules”.
The IOC’s executive committee met to discuss the issue on Tuesday (Wednesday NZT) and though it condemned the activities and started disciplinary proceedings against many of those involved, it postponed any announcement on a possible blanket ban pending legal advice and the outcome of the CAS hearing.
Seeking to dismiss lingering doubts, a top Chinese sports official says the country has committed to a zero-tolerance stance on doping ahead of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
That would mark the deepest crisis in the Olympic movement since the U.S. and Soviet boycotts of the 1980s, and would be a grave blow to a nation that prides itself on its status as a sporting superpower.
But there have been widespread calls for exemplary sanctions against the state orchestrated campaign.
He likely won’t have any Russian athletes to contend with when he gets there.
Pole vaulter Elena Isimbayeva has described the CAS decision “the funeral of athletics”.
A spokesman for the Kremlin said that it believed the decision was unjust.
An IOC ethics commission is to rule on the case of Yuliya Stepanova, an 800m runner who turned whistleblower on the doping.
The IAAF welcomed the CAS tribunal ruling.
“Today’s judgement has created a level playing field for athletes”, said an IAAFstatement.
“The CAS award upholds the rights of the IAAF to use its rules for the protection of the sport (and) to protect clean athletes”.
The decision Thursday is seen as significant because it potentially sets a precedent that collective bans are legitimate and do not necessarily violate individual athletes’ rights, meaning that an International Olympic Committee ban on Russian Federation from the Olympics could be valid.
The IOC has banned Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko – a long-time ally of President Vladimir Putin – and all other ministry officials from the Rio Games and withdrawn backing for global events in Russia in reaction to the revelations.
The IAAF suspended Russian Federation in November after an inquiry which first spoke of “state sponsored” doping.
It refused to lift the suspension last month, meaning no Russian athletes could take part in Rio.
Originally, Russia had 17 medals.
The IOC has not yet reconfirmed the results of the London Olympics following the retesting of doping samples.
IAAF president Sebastian Coe welcomed the CAS ruling but said: “This is not a day for triumphant statements”.
Six-time Olympic gold medalist and multiple world champion Bolt, who sported a plaster on his arm from a routine anti-doping test undertaken earlier this morning, arrives in the United Kingdom eager to prove that he has no injury concerns after withdrawing from the 100m final at Jamaica’s team trials with a hamstring problem. “It is our federation’s instinctive desire to include, not exclude”.
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At a competition near Moscow that had been scheduled as a final tune-up before the games, most athletes saw the ruling as fundamentally unjust, and based on unfair allegations of mass doping and government cover-ups.
