Russia Banned From Next Two Olympic Games and The World Cup

See you in 2023.

The Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sports has officially banned Russia from all major international competitions for the next two years. That includes the Olympic Games and the soccer World Cup. The harsh ruling extends from a doping investigation that alleges Russian athletes used performance-enhancing drugs in recent international athletics events.

Under the ruling, Russia will have to sit out of next summer’s Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo. (The Games were originally slated for summer 2020, but were postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic). Additionally, Russia is barred from the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

And it’s not just Russian teams that will be excluded from these events. The ruling also bans display of the Russian flag or national anthem at any international sporting event until 2023.

But the new decision is not the first time in recent memory that Russia has been kicked out of competition for dishonest conduct. Russian teams previously sat out of the 2018 Winter Game in South Korea. However, certain Russian athletes who met requirements were allowed to compete in those Games, albeit under the odd banner of “Olympic Athletes from Russia.” That subtle distinction will allow athletes to compete once again under the new ban.

Mitigation on Appeal

The ban from the Court for Arbitration for Sports, though harsh, is less severe than a four-year ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). A year ago, the international agency accused Russian sports authorities of failing to provide “authentic” drug-testing data.

The WADA decision followed an independent investigation that claimed Russia’s Anti-Doping Agency was “non-compliant” with the World Anti-Doping Code. The inquiry accused Russian officials of manipulating lab data to intentionally dupe investigators.

Russia has appealed that ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sports, leading to Thursday’s ruling.

On Thursday, the judges of the international court wrote that a two-year ban reflected “the nature and seriousness of the non-compliance.” Additionally, they wrote that the harsh penalty aims to “ensure that the integrity of sport against the scourge of doping is maintained.”

“The consequences which the panel has decided to impose are not as extensive as those sought by WADA,” the judges ceded. Still, they wrote that the shorter sentence is in no way a “validation” of Russia’s misconduct.

Concluding their decision, the judges wrote that they hope to effect “cultural change and encourage the next generation of Russian athletes to participate in clean international sport.” The International Olympic Committee will likely adopt the decision shortly.

Reprinted with permission from https://werax.com/russia-banned-from-next-two-olympic-games-and-the-world-cup/