The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) appealed the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to immediately suspend it for violating the Olympic Charter, as confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) itself.
The IOC resolved it at its last meeting in Mumbai, India, after the ROC decided to include as members sports organizations that are under the orbit of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee, such as those in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) has registered the appeal filed by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), against the decision issued by the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (JE of the IOC) on October 12, 2023,” the body confirmed and commented that Russia “requests that the contested decision be annulled and that it be restored as a CON recognized by the IOC, benefiting from all the rights and prerogatives granted by the Olympic Charter”.
The TAS explained what the next steps will be: constitution of a panel of arbitrators, call for a hearing, deliberation and the final decision. “It is not possible to indicate a deadline,” the Court said of the decision, stating that “it will be final and binding, with the exception of the right of the parties to file an appeal to the Swiss Federal Court within 30 days for limited reasons.”
Russia compared its situation with Israel: the IOC’s response
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of last year, the International Olympic Committee decided to sanction athletes from that country as well as those from Belarus, who can now compete neutrally and individually and are still waiting for confirmation as to whether they will be able to participate in the Paris Olympic Games.
From Russia, they tried to compare the situation with the conflict in Israel and wondered if the IOC will make the same decision, a question that received a categorical answer: “It is a unique situation and cannot be compared to any other war or conflict in the world, because the measures taken and the recommendations made by the IOC are a consequence of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army during the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.”
“The IOC is committed to the concept of individual responsibility and athletes cannot be held responsible for the actions of their governments,” a spokesperson added to the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA).
After hearing this statement, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, assured that the position “is outrageous” and pointed out: “Once again we see an example of the partiality and failure of the International Olympic Committee, which time and again demonstrates its political partiality. Everything that is responsible for the interests of Western countries, mainly the United States, actively supports it and tries to find formulations that generally approve of this line. Shameful and of course, the IOC was very discredited.”