Emmanuel Thomas l Thursday, 24 September 2020
LAUSANNE, Switzerland- The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ordered the International Olympic Committee(IOC) to set aside the decision it reached on two Russian biathletes Olga Vilukhina and Yana Romanova with regards to the Sochi Olympic Winter Games in Russia.
Besides, CAS also ordered that the results obtained in individual events by the athelets at the Sochi Games should be reinstated and that the decision reached by IOC committee could not established the facts but based on here say.
The two biathelets had filed appeal against the decisions issued by the International Olympic Committee Disciplinary Commission (IOC DC) dated 27 November 2017, as well as in the related appeal filed by the biathlete Olga Zaytseva against the IOC DC decision dated 1 December 2017 (collectively, the Athletes and the Challenged Decisions).
The Athletes participated at the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia (the Sochi Games) in February 2014. Ms Vilukhina participated in five competitions, winning an individual silver medal in the Women’s 7,5 km sprint race. Ms Romanova participated in five competitions and Ms Zaytseva participated in six competitions. Together, the Athletes won silver in the Women’s 4 x 6 km team relay.
Following the investigations that were conducted after the Sochi Games into an organised doping cover-up scheme, the IOC DC opened disciplinary proceedings against the Athletes and concluded that they had been participants in, and beneficiaries of a cover-up scheme implemented on the occasion of the Sochi Games.
In the Challenged Decisions, the Athletes were found to have committedanti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) pursuant to Article 2 of the International Olympic CommitteeAnti-Doping Rules applicable to the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and were disqualified fromthe events in which they participated during the Sochi Games, ordered to return all medals, pins and diplomas obtained during the Games, and were declared ineligible to be accredited in any capacity for all future editions of the Olympic Games.
In December 2017, the Athletes filed appeals against the Challenged Decisions at the CAS, seeking to have them annulled. At the request of the parties, the proceedings were suspended until mid-2019. Allthree arbitration procedures were handled by the same Panel of arbitrators: Mr Jacques Radoux (Luxembourg), President, Prof. Philippe Sands QC (UK) and Prof. Petros C. Mavroidis (Greece). A common hearing among the Athletes took place on 2 and 3 March 2020.
Ruling on the appeals, CAS said, “In relation to Ms Vilukhina and Ms Romanova: The Panel concluded that none of the acts alleged to have committed by these two athletes had been established to its comfortable satisfaction and beyond the mere suspicion of a potential ADRV”, the CAS said
Accordingly, the Panel ordered that the findings and sanctions imposed upon Ms Vilukhina and Ms Romanova in the challenged decisions should be set aside and that their results in individual events at the Sochi Games should be reinstated.
