Court of Arbitration For Sport Blasts Russia, Justifies Halving Ban As Full Ruling Is Published

The Court of Arbitration for Sport accused Russia of engaging in “a cover up of the cover up” while also justifying its decision to reduce the country’s ban from major sporting events from four years to two.

The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) had appealed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) decision to impose a four-year suspension in December 2019 following the state-sponsored doping scandal involving the manipulation of data.

While CAS upheld the ban they halved it to two years in their ruling last month meaning they will still miss the Tokyo Olympics and Beijing Winter Games before being reinstated on 16 December 2022.

The 186-page decision was made public on Thursday with CAS denouncing Russia and reiterating the methods used by the authorities to keep changing, deleting and manipulating the data even after they had agreed to hand it over to WADA in its original form.

The panel concluded:

“It will never be possible to know the number of cheating athletes or officials who may have escaped detection.

“The manipulations show that the Russian authorities remain as willing as ever to interfere with, and corrupt, the anti-doping system.”

The panel said it cut the ban partly because WADA had only intended it to include one summer and one winter Games but four years would also have encompassed Paris 2024.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the IOC to push the Tokyo Olympics back a year to 2021 and CAS said the reduction would also help avoid further disruptions to preparations “particularly in the light of disruption occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

CAS also lowered the burden for Russian athletes to compete as neutrals in Tokyo and Beijing and the panel wrote:

“Further, the panel acknowledges that imposing severe consequences upon an entirely new generation of Russian athletes may go further than necessary to achieve the objectives of the (WADA sanctioning rules.).”

CAS said last month:

“This Panel has imposed consequences to reflect the nature and seriousness of the non-compliance [to the WADC] and to ensure that the integrity of sport against the scourge of doping is maintained.

“The consequences which the Panel has decided to impose are not as extensive as those sought by WADA.

“This should not, however, be read as any validation of the conduct of RUSADA or the Russian authorities.

“In making its orders, the Panel is limited by the powers granted under the applicable law, in particular the WADC and the ISCCS.

“It has considered matters of proportionality and, in particular, the need to effect cultural change and encourage the next generation of Russian athletes to participate in clean international sport.”

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