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Pyeongchang Winter Olympics: CAS to decide on Russian participation on Friday
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld the appeal of 28 Russia athletes due to insufficient evidence but the International Olympic Committee still refused to invite them for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
A decision on an appeal by Russian athletes to compete at the Pyeongchang Olympics will likely be taken on Friday, the Secretary General of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Matthieu Reeb said on Thursday.
CAS has been handling several appeals from the Russians after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) invited 169 carefully screened Russian athletes to compete as independents in South Korea.
Russia was banned from Pyeongchang over the Sochi 2014 doping scandal and the IOC had banned dozens of athletes from the games for life and stripped their Sochi Games medals following several investigations. CAS upheld the appeal of 28 athletes due to insufficient evidence but the IOC still refused to invite them saying the evidence was there.
“The decision is likely to be issued tomorrow morning so between 0900 and 1200 (local/0000-0300 GMT). When further information is available you will be informed,” Reeb told reporters.
CAS is also handling appeals of Russians, including Olympic champion skater Viktor Ahn, who had not been named in the doping investigations or had any prior doping offences but were still not invited due to doping suspicions by the IOC.
The Games run from Feb. 9-25.
