Russia brands court ruling ‘crime against sport’

Russia has denounced its Olympic ban as “a crime against sport” after the Court of Arbitration for Sport yesterday upheld the suspension.

Russia lost its appeal against the decision to ban its athletics team from the Rio Olympics next month. The Russian Olympic Committee and 68 individual athletes lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport when athletics’ world governing body the IAAF upheld a global competition ban against the Russian athletics federation that has been in place since November.

Russia called the court decision “a crime against sport”, “biased and politicised”, accusing the court of condemning clean athletes, after “creating a precedent of collective responsibility”.