Russia's Appeal Against Suspension To Participate In CAS Rejected Olympics

JAKARTA - Russia's appeal to its suspension of participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was rejected by the Sports Arbitration Court (CAS).

The PANEL CAS, which handled the matter, rejected the appeal and confirmed the opposing decision, and found that the IOC executive board did not violate the principles of legality, equality, predictability, or proportionality," CAS quoted Antara as saying.

The decision of the CAS panel is said to be final and binding, unless the relevant parties have the right to appeal to the Swiss Federal Court within 30 days for limited reasons.

Earlier, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in October last year for violating the integrity of Ukraine's membership region by recognizing illegally annexed territory.

The IOC suspension of ROC took place on October 12, 2023, a week after the ROC decided to include regional sports organizations under the authority of the Ukrainian National Olympic Committee, namely Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhia as members under the authority of ROC.

The IOC assessed that ROC's decision to include these organizations was a violation of the Olympic Charter for violating Ukraine's NOC territorial integrity, as recognized by the IOC in accordance with the Olympic Charter.

On the other hand, ROC considers the CAS and IOC decisions to be a 'contraproductive and politically motivated' decision.

The CAS decision is further evidence that civil and sporting discrimination against Russian citizens has reached an unprecedented proportion ahead of the Olympics in Paris, ROC said in a statement.

ROC had previously appealed the suspension to CAS on November 6, 2023.

The IOC then gave the green light in December 2023 for the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes at this year's Paris Olympics as neutral athletes, beyond team matches and as long as they do not actively support the war against Ukraine.

At that time, the IOC said there were only eight athletes from Russia and three Belarusian athletes who qualified as neutral athletes.

By comparison, more than 60 Ukrainian athletes have secured their place to Paris.