CAS dismisses Russia's appeal against suspension by International Olympic Committee

New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS) The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to suspend the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) for breaching the Olympic Charter. The suspension means ROC cannot operate as a National Olympic Committee and receive funding from Olympic Movement.

The IOC suspended the ROC in October last year, leading to the appeal which has now been dismissed by the CAS. “The CAS Panel in charge of this matter dismissed the appeal and confirmed the Challenged Decision, finding that the IOC EB did not breach the principles of legality, equality, predictability or proportionality,” the CAS statement read.

The ROC has criticized the decision, calling it “another counterproductive decision with obvious political motivations”. The appeal was filed with CAS on November 6, with the outcome now final and binding unless parties decide to appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal within 30 days on limited grounds.

In another development, the IOC has announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes who have qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics can participate as neutrals, provided they did not support the war on Ukraine. This decision comes as a part of the ongoing response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.