GENEVA (AP) – Russia will not be able to use its name, flag and national anthem at the next two Olympics or at any world championships for the next two years, following a ruling Thursday by the Court of Arbitration for Sports.
The court in Lausanne halved the four-year ban proposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency last year in a groundbreaking case accusing Russia of state-ordered tampering with a Moscow test laboratory database. The ruling also banned Russia from bidding for major sporting events for two years.
Russian athletes and teams are still allowed to compete in next year’s Tokyo Olympics and Beijing’s 2022 Winter Games, as well as world championships, including the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, if they are not involved in doping or covering up positive tests.
A victory for Russia is the proposed team name at major events. The name “Russia” can be kept on uniforms if the words “Neutral athlete” or equivalents such as “Neutral team” are equally important, the court said.
The burden of proof has also shifted from Russian athletes and more to WADA when it comes to vetting their doping history for selection for the Olympics or other sporting events.
Russian athletes and teams can also keep the national flag colors red, white and blue in their uniform during major events. That was not possible for the Russians at the last two world championships.
Even with those concessions, the three judges of the court handed down Russia the harshest sentences since allegations of state-sponsored doping and cover-ups emerged after the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
WADA President Witold Bańka praised the court’s decision, despite the ban being reduced to two years.
“The (CAS) panel has clearly confirmed our findings that the Russian authorities have brutally and illegally manipulated Moscow laboratory data in an attempt to cover up an institutionalized doping system,” Bańka said in a statement.
The case concerned allegations that Russian government agencies altered and deleted parts of the database before handing them over to WADA investigators last year. It likely contained evidence to prosecute long-term doping violations.
The CAS trial was formally between WADA and the Russian anti-doping agency, which refused to accept last year’s four-year ban. The Russian office, known as Rusada, was declared non-compliant last year – a decision upheld by the three judges on Thursday.
Rusada was also ordered to pay $ 1.27 million to WADA.
The judges’ 186-page ruling is expected to be published in the coming weeks.
The Russian agency can appeal the sanctions to the Swiss Supreme Court in Lausanne.
When a four-day hearing was held in Lausanne last month, Russian athletes and their lawyers participated as third parties arguing that they should not be punished for misconduct by government officials who do not work in sports.
Giving WADA the lab database by a December 2018 deadline was a key condition for Rusada to be restored three months earlier when a previous expulsion from the anti-doping community was lifted.
WADA researchers in Moscow finally got the data a month late. Testing evidence and emails were found to have been deleted or altered, and whistleblowers were involved.
The ruling allows Russian government officials, including President Vladimir Putin, to attend major sporting events at the invitation of the host country’s head of state.
WADA investigators went to Moscow two years ago to collect the database and begin verifying evidence that could help sports administrators prosecute suspected doping violations dating back several years.
While Russia won’t host any more world championships in the next two years, events can be postponed. Governing bodies have been advised to seek a new host “unless it is legally or practically impossible to do so.”
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