Russian doping scandal: International Olympic Committee refuses to invite CAS-cleared athletes

Lausanne, February 5: International Olympic Committee (IOC) declines to invite 3 more athletes and two more coaches from Russia who had their lifetime bans overturned by world sport’s highest tribunal. Hence, despite being cleared by CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), they won’t be participating in PeyongChang Olympics.

“To give further assurance that all information available to the Panel had been analyzed and assessed, the Panel reviewed all 13 athletes submitted by the suspended ROC for OAR invitation places using the same methodology as its initial review of 16 and 17 January 2018 · on a case-by-case basis, individually and anonymously," an official statement from IOC reads.

IOC said it observed that there were additional elements and/or evidence, which could not be considered by the IOC Oswald Commission because it was not available to it. The body observed that the decision of the CAS had not lifted the suspicion of doping or given the Panel sufficient confidence to recommend that those 13 athletes could be considered as clean.