A decision to ban Russian track and field athletes from Rio 2016 as a result of the country’s alleged state-sponsored doping regime has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Russia’s athletics federation was suspended by the sport’s world governing body, the IAAF, after an independent report found evidence of widespread doping.
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and 68 athletes appealed against that decision but Cas has ruled the ban can stand after hearing evidence.
Separately, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is considering calls to ban all Russian competitors across all sports from the Rio Games following a second report into state-sponsored doping.
“The Cas panel confirmed that the ROC is not entitled to nominate Russian track and field athletes to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games considering that they are not eligible to participate under the IAAF competition rules,” a spokesman said.
The IAAF said it was “pleased Cas has supported its position”, saying the judgement had “created a level playing field for athletes”.
IAAF president Lord Coe added: “This is not a day for triumphant statements. I didn’t come into this sport to stop athletes from competing. Russia was suspended from global track and field events by the IAAF in November 2015.
That followed the publication of an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report that showed a culture of widespread, state-sponsored doping, with even the Russian secret service involved.
The country’s sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, has since apologised for Russia’s failure to catch cheating athletes but stopped short of admitting the scandal had been state-sponsored.
However, another Wada-commissioned report delivered earlier this week – the McLaren report – contained more damaging allegations and suggested senior figures in Russia’s sports ministry were complicit in an organised cover-up.

Source: BBC