Olympic Games 2018: CAS lifelong suspension of 28 Russian athletes from Olympic Games

The International Olympic Committee has suffered a severe defeat in connection with the Russian state doping scandal at the CAS International Sports Court. The CAS lifted the IOC’s lifelong olympic bans on 28 Russian athletes on Thursday because it could not detect any individual violations of anti-doping rules.

The athletes concerned remain removed from the Sochi result lists, but CAS has lifted the lifelong suspensions. The athletes, including double Olympic gold medallist Alexander Subkow (Bob), will be banned from the games in Pyeongchang.

However, this does not mean that the unburdened athletes, including Sochi Olympic champion Alexander Legkov (cross-country skiing) and Alexander Tretyakov (skeleton), will now participate in the winter games in Pyeongchang (9th place). nis 25. February) may participate. Since they are not invited by the IOC, they would first have to claim their right to take part.

The CAS announced that in 28 cases it considered the evidence provided by the IOC to be “insufficient” to maintain the charge of a doping offence. The Sports Court, which announced its decision in the Olympic city of Pyeongchang, initially did not give detailed reasons for the decision.

A total of 42 Russian athletes had moved to CAS. Initially, however, only 39 cases were dealt with, those of biathletes Jana Romanowa, Olga Wiluchina and Olga Saizewa were adjourned. The three-person panel of judges included the Augsburg lawyer Christoph Vedder and the Munich lawyer Dirk-Reiner Martens. The hearings were not open to the public.

The IOC had banned a total of 43 Russian athletes from participating in the Olympic Games for life. Only bobsleigh rider Maxim Belugin, who finished fourth in Sochi, did not appeal.