Thomas Bach: “We await the final decision from CAS with no room for any interpretation”

The President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, following the results of the 135th IOC Session, spoke about the dispute between WADA and RUSADA due to be resolved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). He emphasized that he was looking forward to a “watertight” solution with no room for any interpretation.

On January 9, WADA submitted documents to CAS relating to the dispute with RUSADA. Earlier, RUSADA’s Supervisory Board made recommendations on disagreement with the decision by WADA’s Executive Committee issued on December 9, and now the case should be resolved in court. The time constraints of the court proceedings remain unknown, and such uncertainty also worries the IOC leadership.

– Unfortunately, the speed of the procedure is not in our hands. Of course, we hope for a decision as soon as possible, – said Thomas Bach. – What is important for the IOC and the international federations is that we get a decision which does not leave room for any ambiguous interpretation. This must be a “watertight” decision where everybody concerned knows what to do and what not to do.

If there is room for interpretation then this may trigger new proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. And I am not even talking about potential appeals to other courts. Those could lead to total confusion and potentially various interpretations by different federations. I hope that CAS can make a decision as soon as possible and leave no room for any interpretation.