Twenty eight
Russian athletes could still take part in this month’s Winter Olympics in
Pyeongchang, South Korea, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday
lifted
life bans imposed on them for alleged doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter
Olympics.
Sport’s top
court ruled there was “insufficient” evidence that the 28 athletes out of the
43 that sought the court’s help, had benefited from a system of state-sponsored
doping at the last Winter Games, hosted by Russia in Sochi.
CAS said in
its judgement: “In 28 cases, the evidence collected was found to be
insufficient to establish that an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) was
committed by the athletes concerned.”
It added:
“The evidence put forward by the IOC in relation to this matter did not have
the same weight in each individual case.”
Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said he was “very glad” about the ruling
which fell just eight days before the 2018 Olympics begin.
The
International Olympic Committee has banned Russia as a team from competing at
Pyeongchang over the doping scandal, although 169 Russian athletes have been
cleared to take part as neutrals.
The Olympic
body reacted to the CAS verdict by warning in a statement that “not being
sanctioned does not automatically confer the privilege of an invitation” to the
Games.
Forty-two
Russians — bobsleighers, cross-country skiers, competitors in the skeleton and
ice hockey players — appealed against the bans at CAS.
Meanwhile
CAS lifted the life bans of another 11 Russians, but barred them from competing
at the Pyeongchang Olympics that start on February 9.
Among those
whose life bans were scrapped is Alexander Legkov, 34, who won gold in Sochi in
the 50-kilometre freestyle cross-country skiing event and silver in the 4×10
kilometre relay, only to have his results annulled over the doping allegations.
– Explosive
findings –
Last week’s
extraordinary mass hearing of Russian athletes held less than three weeks
before the Olympics begin forced CAS to temporarily move their compact
headquarters in Lausanne to a large conference centre in Geneva.
The hearings
at the world’s top sports court were as a result of allegations of a vast
state-sponsored doping programme contained in the report into Sochi authored by
sports law professor Richard McLaren for the World Anti-Doping Agency.
His
explosive findings laid out the workings of the programme — from the use of
secret state agents to passing urine samples out of testing labs through
mouseholes.
But for
Russian deputy prime minister Vitaly Mutko, CAS’s rulings proved Moscow never
orchestrated a state-sponsored doping programme.
“One can say
that there wasn’t any system or any sort of manipulation at the Sochi Olympic
Games, we’ve always said that but today the Court of Arbitration for Sport
issued such a ruling,” said Mutko, who himself is appealing to CAS over his
life ban.
He was
banned after being singled out in McLaren’s report.
Many of the
details about Russia’s alleged state-supported doping programme were first
uncovered by a groundbreaking German investigation.
– Kremlin ‘very
glad’ –
News of
Thursday’s CAS verdict was warmly welcomed in Moscow.
“We are very
glad for our athletes,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told
reporters.
“The
information about the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport proves
that energetic work to stand up for our rights in court and elsewhere — it is
justified, it can be effective and it should continue,” Peskov added.
“And we are
hoping that this work will certainly continue.”
He said it
was unclear whether the 28 who had their appeals upheld would now compete in
South Korea.
“It is a
difficult question,” the Kremlin spokesman added, noting Russian officials
would continue talking to the International Olympic Committee.
Those Russians
already cleared to take part in the Games will do so under the designation
“Olympic Athlete from Russia”.
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