Sports arbitration court in Lausanne, it upheld the appeals of 28 Russian athletes, but in general the decision did not cause great joy among them.
“I no longer have any emotions. I have had so many things happen this year that I don’t have the strength to rejoice now. Do I want to compete at the Olympics? Of course, but still not everything depends on me,” commented to TASS the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS), skeleton athlete Alexander Tretyakov, whose appeal was upheld. He told RIA Novosti that he would go to the 2018 Olympics if the IOC sent him an invitation to participate in the Games.
World champion in speed skating, Russian Olga Fatkulina, who was also acquitted by CAS, said that a victory for her would be admission to the 2018 Games.
“I earned a medal with my honest work. When I learned about today's decision, my happiness did not decrease or increase. Everything was as it should have been. It will be a victory if we are allowed to the Olympic Games. We will now wait to see how everything will be decided regarding the admission. Then we will rejoice. Now the state is such that there are no emotions. We are waiting to see how everything will turn out according to the situation,” she noted.
“The biggest disappointment is that, okay, they would say the reason, and we could fight, file appeals, etc. But we don’t know the reason at all, why. They just weren’t invited to the Olympic Games, you can see, you know, how they invited someone to play football in the yard, but we weren’t invited,” quotes world and European biathlon champion Maxim Tsvetkov.
However, not all athletes are negative. Sochi 2014 Olympic biathlon champion and world champion Anton Shipulin believes that life goes on. “I want all athletes and all fans to unite at this moment and understand that we still have everything ahead, and we, Russia, are a strong country, a strong power,” he said.
Athlete Natalya Matveeva learned about the CAS decision during training:
Publication from Natalia Matveeva(@matveeva_natalia_rus) Feb 1, 2018 at 1:24 PST
Skeleton athlete Elena Nikitina, whose appeal was also upheld by the court, noted that there is still justice: “The mood is fighting, as it was. Of course, we are very happy and were waiting for this decision - there is justice after all. Of course, we are waiting for an invitation from the IOC; we ourselves, so to speak, asked for this holiday.”
Skier Alexey Petukhov admitted that he was in a double state from the news: “I’m a little confused, I understand that it’s all over, but I’m in an incomprehensible, double state. It turns out that it’s unclear with the Olympic Games, the IOC probably won’t allow it, and the list has already been formed. But the fact that we will continue to prepare for the World Cup is a positive decision. With new strength in new fight! Justice has triumphed, there are higher powers and truth is above all nasty things. Now let those who spoke badly about us think about it, let them be ashamed. And we came out victorious, it’s great that the court heard us.”
According to him, the return of the Sochi results is primarily important for those athletes who won medals there. “And my 8th place basically has no effect. As for the 2018 Olympic Games, it is unlikely that we will get there; the list there is not rubbery. It will be difficult to go there. As I understand it, a very small percentage of this is possible. I’m ready to go, I’m ready to fight, but it’s difficult to comment here, the situation is still unclear,” added Petukhov.
“This is great news that Tanya Ivanova and I were acquitted, justice has triumphed. Now we need to resolve the issues of including Ivanova, first of all, in olympic composition. Well, ours coaching staff needs to be fully reinstated at the Olympics because the athletes were found innocent. We will continue to prepare and hope that we will all be given accreditation for the Olympics,” said head coach Russian national luge team Albert Demchenko.
Let us recall that on Thursday CAS appealed 28 Russian athletes, annulling their lifelong ban from participation in Olympic Games, which was previously imposed on athletes by the IOC.
The athletes were suspended by the IOC following an investigation by a commission led by Denis Oswald, which rechecked doping samples from the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. The results of acquitted athletes at the Sochi Games have been restored.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne on Thursday announced the final decision on the appeals of 39 Russian athletes banned for life by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) commission for anti-doping rule violations at Sochi 2014.
Thus, the acquitted athletes have the right to replenish the reduced delegation of Olympic athletes from Russia, which has already begun to depart for the Olympic Village.
“Both CAS panels unanimously accepted that the evidence provided by the IOC in relation to this case was not equivalent in each individual case,” the CAS decision said. “In 28 cases, the evidence was found to be inconclusive to establish an anti-doping rule violation by athletes. Accordingly, 28 athletes’ appeals were satisfied, the sanctions were canceled and their personal results in Sochi 2014 were restored."
Completely justified with the lifting of sanctions and restoration of the results shown:
| Dmitry Trunenkov (bobsled) |
| Alexey Negodaylo (bobsled) |
| Olga Stulneva (bobsled) |
| Lyudmila Udobkina (bobsled) |
| Alexander Tretyakov (skeleton) |
| Sergey Chudinov (skeleton) |
| Elena Nikitina (skeleton) |
| Olga Potylitsyna (skeleton) |
| Maria Orlova (skeleton) |
| Alexander Legkov (cross-country skiing) |
| Evgeniy Belov (cross-country skiing) |
| Maxim Vylegzhanin (cross-country skiing) |
| Alexey Petukhov (cross-country skiing) |
| Nikita Kryukov (cross-country skiing) |
| Alexander Bessmertnykh (ski racing) |
| Evgenia Shapovalova (cross-country skiing) |
| Natalya Matveeva (cross-country skiing) |
| Olga Fatkulina ( skating) |
| Alexander Rumyantsev (speed skating) |
| Ivan Skobrev (speed skating) |
| Artem Kuznetsov (speed skating) |
| Tatyana Ivanova ( luge) |
| Albert Demchenko (luge) |
| Ekaterina Lebedeva (hockey) |
| Ekaterina Pashkevich (hockey) |
| Tatyana Burina (hockey) |
| Anna Shchukina (hockey) |
| Ekaterina Smolentseva (hockey) |
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has already asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to send invitations to 15 of the 28 acquitted Russian athletes to the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang no later than February 2:
skeleton- Alexander Tretyakov, Elena Nikitina, Maria Orlova, Sergei Chudinov;
cross-country skiing- Alexander Legkov, Evgeny Belov, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Alexander Bessmertnykh, Evgenia Shapovalova, Natalya Matveeva;
skating- Olga Fatkulina, Alexandra Rumyantseva, Artem Kuznetsov;
luge- Tatyana Ivanova, Albert Demchenko.
The results of another 11 Sochi Olympians are still annulled; their guilt in violating anti-doping rules is considered established, but their lifetime Olympic ban has been replaced by missing out on only one Olympics.
“In 11 cases, the evidence collected was considered sufficient to support disqualifications. The IOC decisions in these cases were confirmed with one exception: the athletes were found to be disqualified for the next Games in Pyeongchang instead of a lifetime ban from the Olympic Games,” the CAS verdict reads.
Found guilty:
It is also indicated that the arbitration will consider the cases of three Russian biathletes Olga Zaitseva, Olga Vilukhina and Yana Romanova after the Olympic Games.
Previously, the IOC found 43 Russian athletes who participated in the Sochi Games guilty of violating anti-doping rules, canceled their results from the 2014 Olympics and banned them for life from participating in the Games.
The decisions were made based on the results of the work of the IOC commission led by Denis Oswald, which was involved in rechecking the doping samples of Russians from the home Games.
As a result, Russia lost 13 Olympic medals in Sochi and lost first place in the medal standings.
Let us note that the basis for imposing sanctions against the Sochi Olympians for the IOC commission, bypassing the presumption of innocence, was only suspicions that they had violated anti-doping rules. When athletes tested clean, the containers for storing them in most cases did not even show signs of tampering (scratches) or any other anomalies.
CAS held hearings on the cases of 39 Russian athletes who were sanctioned by the IOC at the end of January.
Reaction of athletes and officials: now we are just happy
“Of course, the news is excellent, but I don’t even have the strength and emotions to rejoice anymore - I’ve been exhausted for the year. But I’m happy, of course. As for the Olympics, now the decision is up to the IOC - whether to invite me or not, if they invite me, then I’ll go, of course,” said "R-Sport" Olympic champion Skeletonist Alexander Tretyakov of the Games in Sochi.
“I’m happy that all charges against me were dropped, a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I’m very happy now. It’s a shame for the guys who were left behind - as many as 11 people. But I still won’t go to the Olympics, I don’t qualify for the quota. We only have two people are going. I won’t watch the Games themselves, I now have a very strange attitude towards them,” skeleton athlete Olga Potylitsyna admitted to the “Championship”.
“I’m happy, as if I won this medal again,” Elena Nikitina, bronze medalist of the 2014 Games in skeleton, told Sport Express. “We were really looking forward to such a decision. This is a normal court, and not some incomprehensible commission. since facts were taken into account, and not speculation. Of course, there was and could not be any evidence of our guilt. This is the result.”
“From the very beginning, we insisted that our athletes were not involved in any doping fraud, and, of course, now we are simply happy that their good name was restored by the court and all their awards were returned to them,” Interfax quotes the head of the Olympic Committee Russia Alexander Zhukov.
"And the guys and all of us are glad that justice has finally been served. Today's CAS decisions confirm that many who were accused are “clean” athletes. The athletes who fought for their rights and finally won are certainly happy and They are looking forward to continuing their careers. They hope that the IOC will accept the CAS decisions and give them an unconditional right to participate in the upcoming Olympic Games,” Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov told TASS.
“The information received about the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding our athletes confirms that vigorous actions to defend rights both in court and in other categories are justified, can be effective and should continue. And we hope that, of course, these actions will continue "- RIA Novosti quotes the reaction of the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.
The next step should be filed in civil courts
Committee Chairman State Duma By physical culture, sports, tourism and youth affairs, Mikhail Degtyarev called on athletes and coaches to continue to defend their honor by filing suits for defamation and protection of dignity in civil courts.
“The restoration of the rights of some of our athletes gives them a chance to take part in the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, and we hope for new victories and medals. We were counting on positive decisions in court. We should always go to court, because silence means agreement with decisions taken or accusations. The next stage should be lawsuits in civil courts in order to refute the false theses of the McLaren report and protect the honor and dignity of athletes and coaches,” he told Sport-Express.
CAS did not satisfy the claim of the Russian Olympic Committee and 68 Russian athletes. Is there still a chance Russian athletes to participate in the Games? We talked about this with the head of the Russian Bar Association's commission on sports law, Sergei Alekseev.
"Vesti FM": Sergey Viktorovich, what to do now?
Alekseev: I want to say that, in principle, this is not the last resort. In fact, the Lausanne court does not have the right to consider the issue of abolishing the presumption of innocence, proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in the UN Charter, and in other international conventions that are higher in legal force than sports law. Therefore, I believe that this decision needs to be appealed at the location of the Lausanne court, that is, to appeal to a Swiss court of general jurisdiction in connection with violations of generally accepted human rights, which cannot be violated not only by some kind of arbitration court, but even by agreements of states, this fundamental human rights and freedoms, namely the right to the principle of equality in dignity and rights, proclaimed in article one of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Political discrimination is prohibited (it is obvious here). Also, the presumption of innocence cannot be prohibited. And, of course, here the right to work is seriously violated. Innocent, “clean” athletes bear such severe responsibility, that is, they are removed from the Games, suffer potential property losses, and suffer business reputations. That is, all this is a direct violation of human rights.
And this court... You see, at first this whole situation was created to confuse Russia, the Russian athletics, stall for time. That is, on June 17 and 21, two radically opposite paths were proposed. That is, it was proposed to apply peacefully to the International Federation athletics and prove there that we are innocent, so that they will voluntarily admit our people there. On the other hand, at the same time it is proposed to go to court with the same IAF. That is, this is obviously confusing nonsense. We went for it - and this is the result.
In fact, from a legal point of view, this court simply confirms that everything was carried out in accordance with the procedures adopted by the International Athletics Association. She has the right to this. They voted by majority vote. And here the procedure was not violated; the court upheld this. Therefore, it is now necessary to appeal precisely at the level of state authorities. The first is the Swiss court, the second instance is the European Court of Human Rights. And also involve commissions - the UN Commission on Human Rights, the same commission under the European Union - and actively continue to fight, otherwise this will continue.
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Broadcasts on the topic: Doping scandal
Is CAS still a court or a tribunal?
ALEXEY PANICH: “We have carried out all the appropriate analyzes on the issue related to Olga Zaitseva’s DNA samples. After we presented the reports of our experts, it turned out that the IOC conducted its examinations of doping samples unprofessionally, and the charge was dropped. I would like to note that we involved both Russian and foreign experts.”
LEONID KALASHNIKOV: “At first there was one athlete, two, then two dozen, and then there were hundreds. And when the count began to include hundreds of punished athletes, it turned out that some people were simply tired, as they say, of inviting Rodchenkov himself and began to fulfill these signatures for him.”
“I would cancel the doping tests”
SERGEY MIKHEEV: “We wanted to integrate into the civilized community - and we integrated into it. The civilized community will punish us for what we are. They can’t punish us like that – take us and destroy us – but they will harm us like this, in small ways.”
The main news, which not only our athletes, but also fans, and even people far from sports have been waiting for, came today from the International Arbitration Court. He completely acquitted 28 Russians, whom the IOC had previously banned for life from the Olympics and deprived of the medals won in Sochi. Among them are our titled skiers Alexander Legkov and Maxim Vylegzhanin, skeletonists Alexander Tretyakov and Elena Nikitina, speed skater Olga Fatkulina. Sanctions from another 11 athletes were partially lifted: lifelong suspension was replaced by inadmissibility only to the next Olympics in South Korea. But will those who have no complaints now be able to go there? It's not that simple here.
The Lausanne Court of Arbitration for Sport announced its decision in Pyeongchang. From today, during the Olympics, its visiting branch will begin operating there, which will consider the cases of athletes in an expedited manner.
“The appeal is upheld. The sanctions have been cancelled” - this line from the court’s press release means that most of our athletes accused by the IOC of manipulating doping samples have been acquitted.
“In 28 cases, it was determined that the evidence collected was insufficient to establish that the athletes actually violated anti-doping rules. We upheld the appeals of 28 athletes, lifted their sanctions and reinstated their results from the 2014 Sochi Games,” said CAS Secretary General Matthew Reeb.
Thus, the court did not accept the arguments of the IOC, which back in 2016 created two commissions that studied data from Richard McLaren’s investigation into doping in Russian sports. One of the commissions under the leadership of Denis Oswald was engaged in re-checking doping samples of participants in the Sochi Olympics. As a result, the IOC announced lifelong bans for dozens of our athletes from the Games. 39 of them filed claims with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. To date, 28 people have won their cases.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the issue of participation of acquitted Russian athletes in the games in South Korea will be discussed with the International Olympic Committee. According to him, Russia “will continue the peaceful legal battle for the interests of our athletes.” And the Prime Minister of Russia said the same thing today at a government meeting.
“We have never doubted that our athletes absolutely deservedly received all the medals that were won in Sochi. It’s good that the court fully confirmed this and proved their purity. This is very important from the point of view of the future of the athletes themselves and from the point of view of organizing work in sports highest achievements in our country. It is necessary that fully rehabilitated athletes be able to take advantage of all the opportunities that are open to them as a result of this court decision. And we wish all our athletes great success at the Olympics in Korea,” said Dmitry Medvedev.
Sports lawyers consider the decision of the arbitration court to be only the beginning of a long journey towards the complete acquittal of our athletes and the entire Russian team, which the IOC forced to compete at the Games in Korea not under the national flag.
“The guys themselves who participate in the competitions are, of course, ready and want to participate in the Olympic Games. Another thing is that back in January, the IOC repeatedly expressed its position, which boils down to the fact that the IOC does not see a direct connection between the issuance of invitations to the Olympic Games and the result of the proceedings on these complaints,” notes sports lawyer Artem Patsev.
The IOC's own reaction to the court's decision turned out to be predictable. The International Olympic Committee has already stated that it still does not consider our athletes innocent and does not exclude the possibility of continuing trials in a Swiss tribunal.
“The CAS decision does not mean that athletes from the 28 will be invited to the Games. The absence of sanctions does not automatically give the privilege of invitation. In this context, it is also important to note that in his press conference, the CAS secretary general insisted that the court's decision "does not mean that these 28 athletes are declared innocent," said International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams.
However, our athletes, who have never been found to have violated anti-doping rules, and whose accusation was based only on the testimony of one witness, the former head of the Russian Anti-Doping Laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, who fled to the United States, do not hide their joy at this decision of the Swiss Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“I am, of course, very happy, glad that CAS made such a decision, that he listened to us, accepted our arguments, our facts and understood the situation. Because it was returned to me olympic medal in Sochi, my honest name. This is very important for me, and I am glad. I don’t know what the IOC will do next,” says skeleton athlete Alexander Tretyakov.
“This is probably all, this is the work of life, what I do. And when you are accused of this, it is, of course, very unpleasant, and everything collapses for you, and the road to the upcoming main competitions is closed. Now it's all back to normal. Let’s hope that we will still get to these Olympic Games,” said Elena Nikitina, bronze medalist of the 2014 Olympic Games in skeleton.
The IOC must return to Alexander Tretyakov gold medal Sochi Games, his colleague Elena Nikitina received bronze, and skier Nikita Kryukov received silver.
“I’m very glad that all this slander that was poured on us, on me, it still moved aside, and our best Olympic Games in Sochi, which were in 2014, and the country in which won, are still us they proved to everyone that these were fair and correct games,” the athlete said.
Thus, after the court decision, Russia regained not only the entire Olympic podium at the 50-kilometer ski racing in Sochi, but also first place in the unofficial team standings of the 2014 Olympics, which the IOC tried so hard to deprive our country of.
https://www.site/2018-02-01/sportivnyy_arbitrazh_opravdal_pozhiznenno_otstranennyh_rossiyskih_sportsmenov
Sports Arbitration acquits Russian athletes banned for life
Alexandr Yakovlev/Russian Look
On February 1, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne announced a decision on 39 Russian athletes who were previously banned for life from participating in the Olympic Games in connection with a doping scandal.
According to the site's correspondent, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) found that athletes violated anti-doping rules at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and decided to disqualify them, thereby depriving them of their medals. In addition, athletes were banned for life from taking part in the Olympic Games in any capacity.
39 Russian athletes filed complaints, stating that there was no direct evidence of their doping. Arbitration proceedings were opened for each appeal.
On February 1, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne upheld the appeals of 28 out of 39 Russian athletes, according to a CAS press release.
The list of those acquitted included: Dmitry Trunenkov, Alexey Negodaylo, Olga Stulneva, Lyudmila Udobkina (bobsled); Alexander Tretyakov, Sergei Chudinov, Elena Nikitina, Olga Potylitsyna, Maria Orlova (skeleton); Alexander Legkov, Evgeny Belov, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Alexey Petukhov, Nikita Kryukov, Alexander Bessmertnykh, Evgenia Shapovalova, Natalya Matveeva (skiing); Olga Fatkulina, Alexey Rumyantsev, Ivan Skobrev, Artyom Kuznetsov (speed skating); Tatyana Ivanova, Albert Demchenko (luge); Ekaterina Lebedeva, Ekaterina Smolentseva, Ekaterina Pashkevich, Tatyana Burina, Anna Shchukina (hockey).
Another 11 athletes were found guilty of violating anti-doping rules, but the court replaced the life ban with a ban on participation in the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang.
On December 5, 2017, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee and suspended the Russian team from Winter Olympics. Only those athletes who could prove their “purity” were allowed to participate in the Games. They will not be able to display national symbols, they must perform under the IOC flag, and if they win, the Olympic anthem will be played.
On January 25, the Russian Olympic Committee published full list Russian athletes who received invitations from the IOC to Pyeongchang. As part of the team " Olympic athletes from Russia" will feature 169 athletes in 15 sports (225 Russian athletes were selected for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi).
Against the background of anti-doping courage, the Russian team lost 111 candidates for a trip to Pyeongchang, including more than 10 superstars who claimed gold at the 2018 Olympics. Among them are six-time Olympic champion in short track Viktor An, Olympic champion in biathlon Anton Shipulin, two-time champion world skiing Sergei Ustyugov, speed skaters Pavel Kulizhnikov and Denis Yuskov, figure skaters Ksenia Stolbova and Ivan Bukin.
The Olympic Games in Pyeongchang will be held from February 9 to 25. For those athletes who did not receive an invitation to the 2018 Olympics, an alternative tournament will be organized in Sochi.
