The national Olympic body Russia filed an urgent appeal on Friday to overturn its athletes’ ban from the European Winter Youth Olympic Festival, one more move by Russian authorities in their legal battle against their sporting isolation due to the war in Ukraine.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reported that it has set an agenda for the case ahead of the European Winter Youth Olympic Festival, which will take place in Finland from March 20-25.
Russian authorities had promised to challenge bans imposed on their athletes by most Olympic bodies this month, although no appeal has been announced before the TAS in relation to the figure skating world championship that begins on March 21. The International Ice Skating Union organizes that event in Montpellier, France.
The Russian Olympic Committee’s appeal challenges the European Olympic Committees, whose executive committee decided on March 2 to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes.
On Friday, the TAS He indicated that the Russian Olympic Committee has not requested an interim ruling – known as “provisional measures” – to freeze the ban, suggesting that all aspects of the case could be decided during the next week.
The appeal is added to Russian football by going to the TAS to try to break down the sports isolation of the country after the invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian Football Federation has appealed against FIFA and UEFA bans on its Russian national team and clubs. Such suspensions were imposed on March 1, hours after the International Olympic Committee urged sports bodies to take action against Russia.
The arguments in favor of the veto of Russian athletes were restated on Friday by the president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, in an open letter addressed to international sports authorities.
