9 Feb 2018

CAS decision on Russian appeal imminent

7:06 am on 9 February 2018

The Court of Arbitration for Sport says a decision on an appeal by Russian athletes to compete at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics will be issued just hours before tonight's opening ceremony.

The Olympic rings near Sochi during the 2014 Olympics.

Photo: AFP

CAS has been handling several appeals from the Russians after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) invited 169 carefully screened Russian athletes to compete as independents in South Korea.

Russia was banned from Pyeongchang over the Sochi 2014 doping scandal and the IOC had banned dozens of athletes from the games for life and stripped their Sochi Games medals following several investigations.

CAS upheld the appeal of 28 athletes due to insufficient evidence but the IOC still refused to invite them saying the evidence was there.

CAS is also handling appeals of Russians, including Olympic champion skater Viktor Ahn, who had not been named in the doping investigations or had any prior doping offences but were still not invited due to doping suspicions by the IOC.

-Reuters