The IOC banned the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in October
for recognizing regional Olympic councils for Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine (Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.)
The suspension ensures that the
ROC will not be eligible for funding and will not be associated with the Olympic movement, but does not affect any decision on Russian athletes’ participation at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
At the time, the IOC said that Russia’s move constituted a breach of the Olympic Charter because
it violated the territorial integrity of Ukraine’s NOC.
Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has denounced the measure as politically motivated.
In its appeal at the Lausanne-based CAS, the ROC asked for the ban to be revoked and requested recognition as a fully-fledged NOC, with all the prerogatives the status entails.
“The CAS Panel in charge of this matter dismissed the appeal and confirmed the challenged decision, finding that the IOC EB [Executive Board] did not breach the principles of legality, equality, predictability, or proportionality,” CAS said in a statement.
Russian and Belarusian athletes had initially been banned from competing internationally following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Belarus has been used as a staging ground.
Individual athletes
Last year, however, the IOC issued an initial set of recommendations for international sports governing bodies to allow Russians and Belarusians to return,
competing as individual athletes with no flag, emblem, or anthem.
The IOC has said that
athletes should not be punished for the actions of governments.
