Russia finds loopholes in Olympics flag ban plan
Russian sports officials were in an upbeat mood yesterday after finding crucial loopholes in the decision to ban the country from using its name, flag and anthem at the next two Olympics.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling, which halved a proposed four-year ban to two, left Russia in full control of its roster and scrapped a plan to exclude athletes suspected of benefiting from past doping cover-ups.
Russian teams won’t of f i c i al l y be c al l ed Russian teams at next year’s Tokyo Olympics or t he 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, but “Russia” will be printed on their red, white and blue uniforms.
“It is a victory for Russia,” Russian antidoping agency acting CEO Mikhail Bukhanov said. “The international sports arbitration did not restrict clean athletes’ rights to t ake part in Olympic and Paralympic Games and world championships.”
WADA wanted Russian athletes to show they didn’t benefit from cover-ups at the Moscow l aboratory bef ore t hey were c l eared to c ompete at t he Olympics, Paralympics and world championship events. Russia argued this amounted to collective punishment and Bukhanov likened it to banning everyone from the roads because of one drunk driver.
The most important part of the ruling, according to Russian
Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov, was the lack of any “extra criteria” for eligibility.
“Clean Russian athletes can take part in the Olympics without any restrictions and do that on a team formed by the national Olympic committee,” he said.
Russian track and field athletes have been barred from wearing national colours at their past two world championships, so t he Olympics will mark a return to competing in red, white and blue.
CAS r ul ed t hat Russian government officials, and even President Vladimir Putin, c an’ t at t end t he Olympics, but workarounds are baked in. They can be invited by the host nation, as Putin surely would be.
Russia was al s o barred f r om hosti ng major sporting events until December 2022, or bidding for new ones during that time, but more loopholes can be found.
Hosting football matches during next year’s European Championship in St Petersburg is exempt — the ruling only covers world championships, not continental events — and Russia can still host the Champions League final in 2022. Other events like scheduled wrestling, shooting and volleyball championships could yet stay in Russia if i t’s “legally or practically impossible” to move them.
Russia c ould yet l aunch targeted appeals to soften the CAS sanctions further.