Tribunal Arbitral du Sport
Court of Arbitration for Sport
MEDIA RELEASE
ATHLETICS – OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016
THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT (CAS) REJECTS THE
CLAIMS/APPEAL OF THE RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (ROC)
AND OF 68 RUSSIAN ATHLETES
Lausanne, 21 July 2016 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued its decisions in the
arbitrations between the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), a number of Russian athletes (the
Claimant Athletes) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The CAS has
dismissed both the request for arbitration filed by the ROC and 68 Claimant Athletes, and the appeal
filed by 67 of the same athletes against the IAAF decision to consider them as ineligible for the
Olympic Games in Rio.
On 13 November 2015, the IAAF suspended the All Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF) from IAAF
membership. Such suspension was confirmed on 26 November 2015 and again on 17 June 2016. In a
request for arbitration filed at the CAS on 3 July 2016, the ROC and the 68 Claimant Athletes asked
the CAS 1) to review specific legal issues, limited to the validity, enforceability and scope of IAAF
Competition Rules 22.1(a) and 22.1A, and 2) to order that any Russian athlete who was not currently
the subject of any period of ineligibility for the commission of an anti-doping rule violation be declared
eligible to participate at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio (subject to meeting the qualification standards
for his or her event).
On 15 July 2016, 67 Russian athletes filed an appeal against the IAAF decisions to deny applications
from these athletes to compete internationally as "neutral athletes" at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
The arbitrations were referred to a Panel of CAS arbitrators: Prof. Luigi Fumagalli, Italy (President),
Mr Jeffrey G. Benz, United States and His Honour James Robert Reid QC, United Kingdom. The
Panel held a hearing with the parties on 19 July 2016.
The CAS Panel has confirmed the validity of the IAAF’s decision to apply Rules 22.1(a) and 22.1A
of the IAAF Competition Rules, which state that athletes whose national federation is suspended by
the IAAF are ineligible for competitions held under the IAAF Rules, in accordance with the Olympic
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