Russia’s Olympic Committee on Thursday expressed its satisfaction with the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision not to ban the country...
Russia’s Olympic Committee on Thursday expressed its satisfaction with the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision not to ban the country’s athletes from participating in the Olympics.
Sport’s highest court on Thursday barred Russia from the international stage for two years including the rearranged Tokyo Olympics and Beijing Winter Games, but halved a four-year ban for systemic doping imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The country will also miss out on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the Russian Olympic Committee’s president Stanislav Pozdnyakov expressed satisfaction that CAS had not “collectively” banned Russia’s athletes, who will still be able to participate under a neutral flag if they prove no connection to doping.
Mikhail Bukhanov, acting head of the country’s anti-doping agency RUSADA, said: “Today’s results are a victory for Russia.”
“The court decided not to accept the theses that WADA demanded. Of course, this is a significant precedent,” he added.
However Pozdnyakov blasted as “unacceptable” CAS’s decision to ban Russia’s high-ranking officials, including the country’s president Vladimir Putin, from attending the Games.
Russia has been roiled by the doping saga for the past four years, after the former head of Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov blew the whistle over state-backed doping at the country’s 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Russia considers the resulting...
