(ATR) There will be no additional members of the Olympic Athletes from Russia team at the PyeongChang Winter Games.
In a decision that came just hours before the opening ceremony, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced to a packed press conference in PyeongChang on Friday that two separate applications filed by a total of 45 Russian athletes and two coaches had both been dismissed.
The Russians challenged the IOC decision refusing to invite them to participate in the 2018 Olympics and requested CAS overturn the IOC decision. The IOC had refused them entry because the two commissions set up to determine their eligibility ruled they had failed to pass required doping protocols. At the hearing, the Russians acknowledged that the IOC had the ability to institute such process.
In its dismissal of the cases, the three-person CAS panel found that the Russians "did not demonstrate that the manner in which the two special commissions (the Invitation Review Panel (IRP) and the Olympic Athlete from Russia Implementation Group (OAR IG) independently evaluated the Applicants was carried out in a discriminatory, arbitrary or unfair manner," according to CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb, reading from a prepared statement.
"The panel also concluded that there was no evidence the IRP or the OAR IG improperly exercised their discretion."
After reading the statement, Reeb immediately walked off the stage and did not take any questions from reporters.
The decision of the panel, which consisted of Carol Roberts of Canada, Bernhard Welten of Switzerland and Zali Steggall of Australia, followed two days of hearings from both parties in the offices of the CAS ad hoc division in Pyeongchang on February 7-8.
Earlier this week, the IOC revealed at their Session that all but one of the 169 Russians invited to participate under the neutral OAR banner would be in PyeongChang. Speed skater Olga Graf, who won two bronze medals in Sochi 2014, announced on social media on Jan. 30 that she would not be competing because she no longer had a chance to medal. Half of her teammates in the team pursuit event were excluded from the Games.
CAS had already ruled on Thursday that it could not consider two other cases totaling 13 more Russian athletes and coaches, saying it "lacked jurisdiction" to deal with their applications.
Written and reported by Gerard Farekin PyeongChang
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