The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has turned down an appeal from Russia’s track and field team against the International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) banning of them from the Rio Olympics.
21 July 2016
Four-time Olympic champion in gymnastics, Aleksey Nemov, said that a ban on the Russian track and field team goes against the Olympic’s very principles.
“The Olympic Games were created in order to put hostilities around the globe on hold; in order for sports to unite people… so I think that today’s decision has nothing to do with fair play,” he said.
“The Olympic Games without Russia will never be valid … there should not be politics in sports,” Nemov added.
General Secretary of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF), Mikhail Butov, said that the Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) has made “a wrong decision against clean athletes.”
Anti-corruption and sports attorney, David Larkin, has slammed the IAAF and WADA for being unable to protect the Russian athletes who had never doped.
“Clearly, the system in Russia has questions to answer but we also have to protect clean athletes, we have to balance the interests. And, right now, the IAAF and WADA have really failed on the job in my opinion,” Larkin told RT.
“Clean Russian athletes had nowhere to go and no guidance until last month when it was too late to comply. That is the real concern here,” he said.
He added that the system of justice in sports has “its own problems and it is very unpredictable, a kind of uncharted territory.”
The Russian track and field squad members told RT that they were shocked and devastated by the CAS decision.
“My first reaction was it just can’t be true. The world has gone insane. Why should I sacrifice everything I have?” high jumper Maria Kuchina said..
Another runner, Timofey Chalyy, also stressed that it was unfair for him to be “suffering for the mistakes of others I don’t even know.”
“Since the start of the year I’ve nine doping probes were taken from me. And somehow they still question how athletes aren’t clean. It looks as if they don’t trust themselves,” Denis Kudryavtsev, who runs the 400 meters hurdles, said.
Russia’s Vera Rudakova, who competes in 400 meters hurdles, called the CAS ruling “completely unfair towards us – clean athletes.”
"Now that the entire track and field team is banned we’ll be supporting the other Russian athletes at the Olympics, hoping they’ll show everyone that sport in our country is great,” she told RT.
All hopes are now being placed with the International Olympic Committee, star pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva said, calling upholding the IAAF ban a “track-and-field burial.”
Isinbayeva, the two-time Olympic champion, now says “it is the IOC’s privilege to make its own decision. They appear to have given a definite ‘no’, but the IOC can still reach a decision on separate athletes,” she said, adding that the chief Thomas Bach will give with the final verdict.
But she also added to TASS that the whole case reeks of foul intentions: "Thanks, everyone, for burying track-and-field. This is nothing but political rigging."
The Kremlin "deeply regrets" CAS upholding the ban on Russian athletes, said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
"We can only express our deep regrets. The news is not too good, and we certainly will have to analyze the situation, taking in account the [CAS] decision, that's why I would avoid any further comments on that matter," the Kremlin spokesman said.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko also offered his thoughts on the CAS ruling following the announcement.
"I will be brief, an official announcement will follow later. I regret CAS's decision. Unfortunately, by introduction of collective responsibility, it is the creation of a precedent. But we didn't expect a different result. When the IOC vice-president says that Russian athletes have nothing to do at the Olympics - it's certainly a signal,” said Mutko.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) released a statement on its website, saying it "has taken a strong stance on upholding the World Anti-Doping Code without fear and favor and is pleased that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has supported its position."
"Today's judgement has created a level playing field for athletes," the statement read.
"The CAS award upholds the rights of the IAAF to use its rules for the protection of the sport, to protect clean athletes and support the credibility and integrity of competition," it added.
Secretary-General of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Matthieu Reeb has announced that the body has declined the appeal by Russian track and field athletes against an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) ban from the Rio Olympics competition.
"CAS rejects the claims/appeal of the Russian Olympic Committee and 68 Russian athletes," CAS said in a statement.
20 July 2016
The president of the Russian Olympic Committee says that the majority of international sports federations back Russia’s participation in the Rio 2016 Olympics. “We’ve heard such statements from [international] federations of swimming, gymnastics, volleyball, judo and so on,” the official told reporters on Wednesday.
German newspaper Bild says it won’t publish any medal count of Russian athletes at 2016 Rio Olympics if the team is allowed to compete by the IOC. A “huge scandal” needs a “huge answer,” wrote Walter M. Straten in a sports page editorial, citing an alleged state cover up of Russian athletes doping following WADA’s report.
If Russia's athletes are forced to miss next month's Olympics, this will not be the first time in history that athletes have been forced to miss the games against their will.
19 July 2016
“We cannot give any comments until July 21 when the ruling is due to be announced,” ARAF General Secretary Mikhail Butov told RT after the hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, adding, however, that “hope is still alive”.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has been stripped of accreditation for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio after being a person mentioned in the WADA report, the press service of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) told TASS.
Yelena Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic pole vault champion, defending Russia’s case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, said the court had given her enough time to make clear how she sees the situation with doping in Russia and her attitude towards the ban on Russian track-and-field athletes at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
“I made my speech. My time was unlimited. They listened to me very attentively. Let us wait and see. I’m an optimist. I always hope for the better and I advise everybody to do that,” Isinbayeva told RT at the end of the hearing.
Moscow will investigate accusations that the Federal Security Service (FSB) was involved in alleged doping schemes if WADA presents substantial proof of such activities, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told media, stressing he is unaware of any activities in this regard.
“In his statement yesterday, President Putin addressed the commission [WADA], requesting to present substantial evidence and facts that give grounds for the accusations,” Peskov said, adding that this information is necessary for the investigation efforts that have been ongoing in Russia “for quite some time.”
Russian athletes are preparing for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. “It goes without saying that we are strong supporters of Olympic ideas and members of the Olympic family,” Peskov said. “We strictly oppose situations that cause damage to the Olympic movement.”
The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) said Tuesday it is against banning the Russian team from this year’s Olympics. “It is important to focus on the need for individual justice in all these cases,” the organization representing the governing bodies of 28 sports on the Olympic program said. It will not however oppose a ban on a national team in a particular sport, if imposed by that sport's international federation. The ASOIF also stated that it looks forward to further investigation into allegations that the Russian government covered up hundreds of doping cases.
18 July 2016
Richard McLaren, Canadian lawyer and author of the latest WADA report on alleged doping by Russian athletes, told RT that he did not ask the Russian Sports Ministry to provide any opinions about the doping allegations. McLaren also claimed he had enough evidence, but would not make it public.
A blanket ban on the entire Russian team would be the wrong decision, said International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and President of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), Rene Fasel. “I’ve already said that I am against collective punishment,” Fasel said in response to WADA’s recommendation that the entire Russian team be banned.
The decision to suggest the involvement of all Russian athletes has been slammed by the head of the International Judo Association, Marius Vizer. “I am convinced that athletes who did not violate doping laws, should not be punished for the violations committed by those who worked in Russia in an improper fashion,” Vizer reacted.
Russia's deputy sports minister Yury Nagornykh has been suspended following the allegations of state-backed doping by Russian athletes during the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told Russian media.
Russian Turin 2006 speed skating gold medalist Olympics Svetalana Zhurova slammed the way the findings were presented. People “should be united in the fight against doping rather than making one country an outcast,” she said. She also criticized the recommendation to ban Paralympic athletes. “Why them? There were no complaints regarding them,” she added.
The International Olympic Committee is set to check the information presented in the McLaren Report on Tuesday. "In the immediate short term, the IOC Executive Board (EB) will convene in a telephone conference tomorrow to take its first decisions which may include provisional measures and sanctions with regard to the Olympic Games Rio 2016," IOC chief Thomas Bach stated.
The WADA report claims that the former chief of the Moscow anti-doping lab, Grigory Rodchenkov, had been a credible source for information over the alleged Russian doping schemes. It also said that all other witnesses involved in the process had been equally credible.
The anti-doping laboratory in the Olympic city of Sochi used 'unique' sample swapping techniques to allow doped Russian athletes take part in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the investigation alleges. WADA also says that the Russian Sports Ministry, FSB and Moscow lab took part in planning the sample swapping system for the Sochi laboratory.
The McLaren Report claims that Moscow's anti-doping laboratory protected athletes who used doping. The investigation also says that the Russian Deputy Sports Minister himself ordered the manipulation.
The WADA report states that the Russian Ministry of Sports was aware of and oversaw the doping process, and that samples indicating doping were swapped for clean ones. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) is also listed as having been involved in the doping scheme.
The WADA commission releases findings from the investigation chaired by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren. The report claims that Russian officials systematically covered up doping abuses by athletes during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.