The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the Russian Olympic Committee’s (ROC) appeal of suspension imposed last October because the ROC incorporated four Ukrainian provinces, which is a breach of the Olympic charter.
Russia was already barred by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from allowing athletes to appear under the Russian flag. The suspension of its Olympic Committee now forces the athletes to appear as unaffiliated competitors.
Russia had been fighting in Ukraine for eight months before the IOC took any action against the ROC. The incorporation of the Ukrainian provinces appeared to be the last straw for the IOC.
“(This) unilateral decision,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement from Mumbai, India, “constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter.”
The IOC never took action against Russia after the 2015 annexation of Crimea. But as an aggressor nation engaged in a hot war, the IOC must have thought that a bridge too far.
Russia whined about being picked on.
“This CAS ruling is yet more evidence that civil and sports discrimination directed against Russians has reached an unprecedented scale in the run-up to the Games in Paris,” the ROC said in a statement.
The ROC’s decision to incorporate the sports bodies for the four Ukrainian regions “constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the (National Olympic Committee) of Ukraine, as recognized by the International Olympic Committee in accordance with the Olympic Charter,” the IOC said.
The suspension in October removed the ROC’s right to receive funding from the IOC but has not affected the many Russians who are competing in international sports as neutral athletes as they attempt to qualify for this year’s Paris Olympics, as part of an IOC-backed initiative.
They would go to the Paris Games under the name of Individual Neutral Athletes, the IOC has said previously.
The IOC says it will “bar athletes who actively support the war” but it’s not forcing any athletes to speak out against Russia’s aggression. The suspension means that the IOC can ban any Russian athlete for any reason with no appeal by Russia, although the individual athlete can appeal.
The ROC said in its statement Friday that the neutral athlete procedure involved “humiliating criteria” and claimed that athletes could risk breaking Russian law by agreeing to them.
A similar Individual Neutral Athlete system is in place for athletes from Russia’s ally Belarus, where the National Olympic Committee is not suspended. The IOC earlier said it will consult with the Belarusian NOC about athlete selection for Paris.
The reluctance of the IOC to live up to its high-falutin ideals isn’t surprising. The Olympics bring in billions of dollars every four years, enriching Olympic Committees around the world. One look at who sits on those committees — European royalty and kleptocrats in Africa and Asia — and you realize that the Olympics are a spectacle for the elites.