By Humberto Viera
Feb 23, 2024, 10:28 AM EST
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the world’s leading authority on sports arbitration, announced on Friday that it has rejected the Russian Olympic Committee’s (ROC) appeal against its suspension by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on October 12. 2023 due to the war in Ukraine.
In a statement, the CAS stated that the IOC’s suspension of the ROC “did not infringe the principles of legality, equality, predictability or proportionality,” thus supporting the IOC’s decision to maintain the sanction.
The IOC imposed the suspension after the ROC “unilaterally” incorporated some regional sports organizations that are under the authority of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee, which, according to the IOC, violated the Olympic Charter by affecting the territorial integrity of the Committee Ukrainian.
The ROC had turned to the CAS seeking to restore its functions and preserve all the rights and prerogatives granted by the Olympic Charter.
The decision of the CAS to reject the appeal and maintain the sanction is final and binding, except for the right of the parties to appeal to the Swiss Federal Court within 30 days.
As a result of the suspension, the ROC has lost its recognition and cannot receive funds from the Olympic Movement.
The IOC, when imposing the sanction, reserved the right to decide on the participation of Russian athletes in the Paris Olympic Games. Currently, those athletes who meet certain criteria can participate in qualifying tournaments for the Paris 2024 Games, but only in individual disciplines and without representing Russia, competing under the name of ‘Individual Neutral Athletes’.
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