The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ruled that Russia cannot use its name, flag, and anthem at the next two Olympics or at any world championships for the next two years; the World Anti-Doping Agency had proposed a four-year ban; USADA criticises 'watered-down outcome'
Saturday 19 December 2020 17:08, UK
Russia has been banned from using its name, flag, and anthem at the next two Olympics or at any world championships for the next two years.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) ruling also blocked Russia from bidding to host major sporting events for two years.
It means there will be no Russian team at next year's Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, as well as world championships including the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
However, Russian athletes will still be allowed to compete as neutral athletes if they are not implicated in doping or covering up positive tests.
The punishments are less than the four-year ban the World Anti-Doping Agency had proposed and the name Russia can be retained on uniforms if the words Neutral Athlete or Neutral Team have equal prominence, the court said.
Still, the court's three judges imposed the most severe penalties on Russia since allegations of state-backed doping and cover-ups emerged after the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
The case centred on accusations that Russian state authorities tampered with a database from the Moscow testing laboratory before handing it over to WADA investigators last year. It contained likely evidence to prosecute long-standing doping violations.
The CAS process was formally between WADA and the Russian anti-doping agency. The Russian agency, known as Rusada, was ruled non-compliant last year a decision upheld Thursday by the three judges.
Rusada was also ordered to pay $1.27m (£930,000) to WADA.
When a four-day hearing was held in Lausanne last month, Russian athletes and their lawyers took part as third parties arguing they should not be punished for misconduct by state officials not working in sports.
Giving WADA the lab database by a December 2018 deadline was a key condition for Rusada being reinstated three months earlier when a previous expulsion from the anti-doping community was lifted.
WADA investigators in Moscow eventually got the data one month late. Evidence of doping tests and emails appeared to have been deleted or changed, and whistleblowers were implicated.
The ruling allows Russian government officials, including President Vladimir Putin, to attend major sporting events if invited by the host nation's head of state.
WADA investigators went to Moscow two years ago to collect the database and begin verifying evidence that would help sports governing bodies prosecute suspected doping violations dating back several years.
Although Russia would be stripped of hosting world championships in the next two years, events can be reprieved. Governing bodies have been advised to find a new host unless it is legally or practically impossible to do so.
Furthermore, the ruling at no point singles out footballers as either eligible or not to compete as neutral athletes, meaning Russian players could still yet feature at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as part of a neutral team, but the decision is likely to fall to FIFA.
WADA president Witold Banka said the ban will send a clear message that "institutionalised cheating" will not be tolerated, although he did admit to the organisation's disappointment that the CAS Panel did not endorse every recommendation.
"WADA is pleased to have won this landmark case. We left no stone unturned in investigating this very complex matter and in presenting our case before CAS," Banka said in a statement.
"The Panel has clearly upheld our findings that the Russian authorities brazenly and illegally manipulated the Moscow Laboratory data in an effort to cover up an institutionalized doping scheme. In the face of continual resistance and denial from Russia, we clearly proved our case, in accordance with due process. In that regard, this ruling is an important moment for clean sport and athletes all over the world.
"We are, however, disappointed that the CAS Panel did not endorse each and every one of our recommended consequences for the four-year period we requested. We believe they were proportionate and reasonable, but ultimately WADA is not the judge but the prosecutor and we must respect the decision of the Panel.
"These are still the strongest set of consequences ever imposed on any country for doping-related offences and the award clearly endorses the resolute, process-driven approach taken by WADA in dealing effectively with this case.
"This sends a clear message that institutionalised cheating and concerted efforts to subvert the global anti-doping system will not be tolerated... Russian authorities were afforded every opportunity to get their house in order and re-join the global anti-doping community for the good of their athletes and the integrity of sport, but they chose instead to continue on their path of deception and denial."
The US Anti-Doping Agency called CAS' decision a "weak" and "watered-down outcome" in a statement on Thursday.
USADA said: "USADA acknowledges the devastating decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the Russia case that hands WADA and clean athletes a significant loss. At this stage in this sordid Russian state-sponsored doping affair, now spanning close to a decade, there is no consolation in this weak, watered-down outcome. To once again escape a meaningful consequence proportional to the crimes, much less a real ban, is a catastrophic blow to clean athletes, the integrity of sport, and the rule of law.
"While the first instinct is to express obvious shock, the fact is we should have all seen this coming. WADA and the IOC have manipulated and mishandled this sordid Russian state-doping affair from day one and have put politics over principle once again. In addition to many other loopholes, this decision expressly gives IOC members from Russia special treatment and exempts them from any consequence for their bad acts that robbed sport and clean athletes.
"For years, athletes have pleaded with WADA for reform and to hold Russia accountable for carrying out the most egregious doping fraud in the history of sport. Throughout the investigation and now with this weak outcome, it's clear that WADA - even with new leadership and promises of change - has told athletes that it did not hear them and that they don't matter. Russia has claimed victory today and, for them and their ability to corrupt global sport, deceive the world, and cheat the global anti-doping system, they are right."
Speaking on the announcement, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) chief executive Nicole Sapstead said, "Whilst we welcome the decision today to uphold WADA's historic ban on Russia, we are frustrated that the ban has been reduced to two-years by Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
"It is important to look at the overall impact of the decision by the CAS. Russia cannot send a team under their flag to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games next year; they are banned from the Winter Games in Beijing in 2022; and the Qatar World Cup 2022.
"This was a state-sponsored conspiracy to undermine the values of sport, that robbed clean athletes of medal hopes and an opportunity for celebration that impacted their livelihoods and future careers.
"This decision demonstrates WADA's ability to implement a global set of anti-doping rules to which everyone in sport is held. The Russia ban is the most severe sanction in sport ever imposed on a nation and the first time in sport that sanctions have been applied to an entire country rather than individual athletes or sports federations.
"WADA quite rightly sought to impose the maximum four-year ban. It is hard to imagine a more serious breaking of the rules in sport, so I don't understand the justification for this reduction.
"We await the publication of the full decision next week, to better understand some of the disappointing aspects of the decision including that Russian athletes will be able to wear uniforms with the country's colours and uniforms that will include the words 'Russia'".
