PYEONGCHANG (South Korea) • International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach called for reforms to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) yesterday, as he slammed its "extremely disappointing" decision to lift life bans for doping imposed on 28 Russian athletes.
He said the IOC executive board was "not satisfied at all" with the approach by CAS, whose decision came just days before the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Last week, the independent sports tribunal cited insufficient evidence as it lifted the bans, adding to the sense of confusion surrounding Russia at the Games.
Although Russia have been banned from the Games following the discovery of a wide-ranging doping conspiracy, 169 athletes are due to compete under a neutral flag as "Olympic Athletes from Russia".
"We feel that this decision shows the urgent need for reforms in the internal structure of CAS," Bach said, after a two-day meeting of the IOC's executive board. "And that means in particular that CAS has to change its structure in a way that it can better manage the quality and the consistency of its jurisdiction."
He said an IOC panel would announce in the "next couple of days" whether 15 of the now-reinstated Russians - 13 athletes and two coaches - would be invited to take part in Pyeongchang. The rest of the 28 have either retired or are unavailable for undisclosed reasons.
Bach revealed that the request to reform CAS has been forwarded to John Coates, president of its governing body International Council of Arbitration for Sport (Icas), who was "very appreciative".
He added that Olympic officials had asked CAS for an explanation for their ruling and had been told no full accounting would be released until the end of this month.
The Games begin on Friday and end on Feb 25, with a fresh doping scandal threatening to erupt on the eve of the quadrennial event.
More than 50 cross-country skiers set to race at the Games have returned suspicious blood data at least once in their careers, according to The Sunday Times in London and German broadcaster ARD.
They say they received a database of around 10,000 blood tests from 2,000 cross-country skiers taken between 2001 and 2010, before the introduction of biological passports.
They report that a total of 290 showed abnormal readings.
The Sunday Times said: "The database was leaked by a whistleblower with serious concerns about the integrity of the Games."
ARD reported that "46 per cent of medals awarded at the Worlds and Olympic Games between 2001 and 2017 - 313 medals - were won by athletes whose values have presented one or more abnormalities".
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
