45 Russian athletes excluded from the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games

The Sports Arbitration Tribunal (Tas) rejected the appeal presented by 45 athletes and two Russian coaches against the IOC's decision to exclude them from the Pyeongchang Olympic Games. The announcement was given by the Secretary General of the Sports Arbitration Tribunal (Tas), Matthieu Reeb, at a press conference at the PyeongChang Media Center.

According to Tas, the fact that the IOC has decided to invite only some Russian athletes who can compete in the Games under the status of neutrals "can not be described as a sanction but rather a decision on eligibility. Even though the Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended - the document states - the IOC has in any case offered the opportunity to take part in the Winter Games under certain conditions, a choice designed to balance the interests of the IOC in the global fight against the doping and that of the individual Russian athletes ".

According to the Sports Arbitration Tribunal, the applicants have not shown that the assessment of the two special committees that were responsible for skimming the eligible athletes "was made in a discriminatory, arbitrary or incorrect manner, so there is no evidence that the two commissions specialists have made their assessments improperly "

Among the 47 athletes excluded also the multi-champion Olympic short track Victor Ahn, Anton Shipulin, gold in Sochi in the men's biathlon relay and Alexander Legkov, gold in the 50 4 km of years ago.

45 Russian athletes excluded from the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games