Moscow:
Pressure continued to build on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to
issue Russia with a blanket ban from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, as
the federations of one of the leading sports refused to confirm that it would
make such a decision unilaterally.
The
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has taken a strong
stance on upholding the World Anti-Doping Code without fear and favour and is
pleased that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has supported its
position.
Russia
lost its CAS appeal on Thursday against an Olympic ban on its track and field
athletes — a decision which adds pressure on the IOC to exclude the country
entirely from next month’s games. But with the IOC – which is expected to
reveal its decision on Sunday — still possibly ready to leave the decision to
individual sports, swimming’s world governing body, Federation internationale
de notation (FINA), also known as International Swimming Federation, refused to
say whether it would support excluding Russians.
FINA
is heavily subsidized by Russian investment, with a substantial amount of cash
ploughed into the sport when the World Championships were hosted in Kazan,
western Russia, in 2015. The governing body was openly critical of several
anti-doping agencies early this week for demanding Russia be banned from Rio.
CAS
stressed that its decision was not binding on the IOC, which has the final say
as the supreme organizer of the games. Mattieu Reeb, General Secretary of CAS
said, “The door is open for the IOC to decide, to determine even on a
case-by-case principle whether these athletes are eligible or not”.
The
IOC said it would study and analyze the full decision and make its own final
ruling on the participation of Russian athletes in the coming days. The
Olympics open in Rio on August 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment