MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Vice President of the International Association of Sports Law (IASL), Dr Andras Nemes, told Sputnik on Thursday he agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) disciplinary action against the Russian athletes was politicized, and added that the only way for them to overturn the decisions of the regulatory bodies is through the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
"My opinion is this is a little bit over-politicized problem. I’m afraid that there are political reasons that are behind this topic… I’m afraid that there is only one solution, going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport," Nemes said.
President Vladimir Putin says that Russia would cooperate with @wada_ama and IOC but was ready to defend its athletes' interests in courts.https://t.co/Aw1ISt80kg
— Sportstar (@sportstarweb) 14 декабря 2017 г.
In early December, the IOC suspended the Russian National Olympic Committee over alleged violations of anti-doping rules at various sporting events, prohibiting the Russian team to compete under the national flag in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
READ MORE: Unfair to Ban Olympians: All Russian Victories Made Under WADA's Oversight — ROC
The IOC had announced in July 2016, a ban on all Russian athletes with a record of doping violations, from participating in the 2016 Rio Olympics. The IOC decision came as a result of a presentation of a two-part report on doping violations in Russia, by Richard McLaren, the head of the investigative team of WADA.
Russian athletes have also been deprived by the IOC of 11 medals and of the first place in an unofficial medal ranking for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, following the activities of the IOC Disciplinary Commission led by Denis Oswald that re-checked doping probes.
