War of attrition between world Olympic body and Kremlin
Pyeongchang: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Monday that 15 Russian athletes and coaches who had their lifetime bans overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne recently, will not be invited to this month’s Pyeongchang Winter Games.
This decision was severely criticised later in the day. “The Kremlin sincerely regrets a decision by the IOC not to allow Russian sports people cleared of doping allegations by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to take part in the forthcoming Olympic Games,” it said in a release.
CAS said last week that there was ‘insufficient evidence’ of anti-doping violations against 28 Russian athletes, and while it confirmed 11 others had committed doping offences it cut their life bans to the upcoming Games in South Korea.
After the CAS decision, Russia’s Olympic Committee requested that 13 active athletes and two who had become coaches be allowed to participate in the February 9-25 Games.
However, the IOC said in a statement that its ‘Invitation Review Panel’ had ‘unanimously recommended that the IOC not extend an invitation’ to the 15. It noted that CAS was yet to provide a ‘full reasoning’ for overturning the bans and that there was some evidence about the athletes that had not been available to the Oswald Commission, which conducted the investigation into Russian doping.
“Following the detailed analysis conducted by the panel, its members observed that there were additional elements and/or evidence, which could not be considered by the IOC Oswald Commission because it was not available to it, that raised suspicion about the integrity of these athletes,” the IOC said in a release.
IOC president Thomas Bach had said Sunday the CAS decision was ‘extremely disappointing and surprising’ and had called for internal structural change at the court to allow it to ‘better manage the quality and the consistency of its jurisdiction’. CAS president John Coates said Monday it had taken note of Bach’s concerns and they would be examined.
“Athletes are entitled to have confidence in judicial processes at all levels, more particularly before the CAS,” said Coates in a statement. “CAS will continue to evolve to ensure consistency and quality of jurisprudence,” he added.
