Russia asks IOC to invite acquitted athletes to the Winter Olympics
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has appealed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with a "strong request" to send invitations to Russian athletes acquitted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) by February 2. This, according to TASS, was reported by the ROC Vice-President Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
According to Pozdnyakov, the request concerns 15 out of 28 acquitted athletes. "The ROC appeals to the IOC and urgently requests individual invitations to the Games [be sent] to Alexander Tretyakov, Elena Nikitina, Maria Orlova, Sergei Chudinov (all skeleton); Alexander Legkov, Yevgeny Belov, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Alexander Bessmertnykh, Yevgeniya Shapovalova , [and] Natalia Matveeva (all - ski races); Olga Fatkulina, Alexandra Rumyantseva, [and] Artem Kuznetsov (all - speed skating); [plus] Tatyana Ivanova [and] Albert Demchenko (both luge sports)," said the Vice President of the ROC.
Pozdnyakov also noted that a possible appeal by the IOC against the Swiss court against the decision of the Sports Arbitration Court in Lausanne (CAS), which removed accusations from Russian athletes, would be contrary to the Olympic Charter. "The IOC itself chose CAS as the final station for all disputes related to the Games in one way or another. The IOC itself is primarily obliged to respect and comply with CAS decisions. Otherwise, the IOC, appealing against CAS decisions in Switzerland, will express a lack of confidence in CAS activities and will cast doubt on the above provisions of the Olympic Charter and the IOC Anti-Doping Rules," he recalled.
On February 1, The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne lifted sanctions imposed by the IOC against Russian athletes charged of doping . Lifetime disqualification was withdrawn from 28 athletes, with 11 more penalties partially withdrawn. The head of the Ministry of Sport, Pavel Kolobkov, has already called on the IOC to make a decision as soon as possible on the admission of Russian athletes to the Games. The decision of the arbitration court was also commented on by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called for it to be "without euphoria," while maintaining respect for the previous decisions of the IOC.