Russia plans WADA Olympic ban appeal

MOSCOW (AP):

Russia has signalled that it will file an appeal against its four-year Olympic ban due to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) sanctions which President Vladimir Putin branded “unfair” yesterday.

The Russian anti-doping agency’s supervisory board voted yesterday to file an arbitration case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland. WADA ruled last week that Russia had manipulated doping laboratory data to cover up past offences.

Putin said it was not fair to threaten Russia with more doping-related punishment and that any sanctions should be on an individual basis.

“I think it is not just unfair but not corresponding to common sense and law,” Putin said.

VERDICT

The case is likely to be referred to CAS within the next 10-15 days, supervisory board chairman Alexander Ivlev said. After a panel of three CAS arbitrators is chosen, a verdict will be issued within three months.

“The ball will be in WADA’s court, and the issue will be discussed in a legal context,” Ivlev said. “We consider the argumentation to be fairly strong, and we will see how the issue develops.”

Thursday’s decision must be approved by another panel of Russian sports and anti-doping figures, but that seems a formality.

Most of the panel’s members, including the Russian Olympic Committee and Russian Paralympic Committee, have said they want an appeal. Sports officials are likely to have substantial influence over how the case is argued and the hiring of lawyers rather than leaving it in the hands of Russian anti-doping agency chief executive officer Yuri Ganus. He is a frequent critic of top officials and has said that the appeal has little chance of success.

Senior political figures, including Putin, had also signalled that they wanted an appeal filed.

“We need to wait calmly for the relevant rulings, including the arbitration court ruling, and we’ll know what position we’re in,” Putin said yesterday. “Russian athletes have been training and will keep training for all competitions.”

The WADA sanctions, announced last week, ban the use of the Russian team name, flag, or anthem at a range of major sports competitions over the next four years, including next year’s Olympics and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

However, Russian athletes will be allowed to compete as neutrals if they pass a vetting process that examines their history of drug testing and possible involvement in over-ups at the lab.