Russia has appealed to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to suspend the country. Arbitration proceedings are now being initiated, the expected duration of which is not yet clear, the Cas announced.
The IOC Executive Committee suspended Russia’s Olympic Committee (ROC) in mid-October. The ROC had previously included the four occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk. The IOC viewed the move as a violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and therefore a violation of the Olympic Charter.
Since the suspension, the ROC is no longer allowed to operate as a National Olympic Committee and no longer receives payments from the IOC. However, the conditions under which Russian athletes are allowed to take part in international competitions still apply.
Russian athletes should be allowed to compete under a neutral flag
In March, the IOC recommended that the world associations allow them to compete again as neutral individual athletes without a flag, anthem and Russian team clothing. However, the condition for this is that the athletes have no connection to the Russian military and are not allowed to support the war of aggression against Ukraine.
The IOC will decide “at an appropriate time” whether this also applies to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, the world Olympic association said in its decision on the suspension. Russian athletes took part in the 2021 Summer Games in Tokyo and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing – using the ROC flag instead of the Russian one. According to a CAS decision from December 2020, the reason for this was doping scandals in Russian sport.
The Court of Arbitration for Sports, Cas, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, will now receive written statements from Russia and the IOC. There will then be a hearing. A decision by the Cas Panel is binding and almost final. The only step left is to lodge a complaint with the Swiss Federal Court.
Russia has appealed to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to suspend the country. Arbitration proceedings are now being initiated, the expected duration of which is not yet clear, the Cas announced.
The IOC Executive Committee suspended Russia’s Olympic Committee (ROC) in mid-October. The ROC had previously included the four occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk. The IOC viewed the move as a violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and therefore a violation of the Olympic Charter.
