The President of the Russian Olympic Committee commented on the decision of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency not to appeal the decision by CAS in the WADA-RUSADA dispute.
Stanislav Pozdnyakov:
– The Russian Olympic Committee respects RUSADA’s position not to appeal the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following court hearings between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and RUSADA. In fact, despite the CAS verdict on ruling the Russian Anti-Doping Agency non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code, it continues to carry out its operational activities in full and is in working contact with WADA as part of conducting work to remove restrictions paving the way for official reinstatement.
As you know, on January 1, 2021, the new World Anti-Doping Code came into force. Fulfilling the requirements of the Code on the complete independence of national anti-doping agencies from organizations in the sports movement, the ROC and the RPC are no longer founders/members of RUSADA and in no way participate in decisions made by RUSADA. At the same time, we accept the decision of the current leadership of RUSADA to refuse to appeal the decision by CAS. It is an adequate response to the current situation.
As for the Russian Olympic Committee, which acted as a third party in this arbitration process, we have repeatedly emphasized that we consider the sanctions and restrictive measures imposed by CAS to be unfair. At the same time, I would like to once again draw your attention to the fact that the arbitrators of CAS directly pointed out that no claims or accusations were made against the Russian Olympic Committee, the national sports federations or athletes.
Furthermore, there is no clear and comprehensive procedure for implementing all the points laid out by CAS. This, in fact, shifts the responsibility for the integrity and proportionality of such implementation – in each individual case – to the IOC, the international sports federations, Organizing Committees and host parties.
Since the announcement of the final decision by CAS, we have constantly consulted with legal advisers, lawyers and our partners about the next steps and actions in the legal and practical sphere. At the same time, we are guided, first of all, by the interests of our athletes, ensuring equal conditions and the procedure for their performance at major international competitions.
At the moment, we proceed from the expediency of focusing efforts on ensuring the practical implementation of the ruling by CAS. First of all, in situations where broad interpretation may negatively affect or unreasonably violate the legal rights and interests of representatives of the Russian side. In particular, the Russian Olympic Committee, which is responsible for forming the composition of our Olympic teams for all Olympic competitions.
We have already noted that in each case the organizers offer different options. In this regard, there is painstaking work ahead for the parties involved in each specific case. Of course, if our legitimate rights and interests are violated, then we will be ready to use the full range of available measures for legal protection – each case will be dealt with separately.
