The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) registered the appeal of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) against the decision of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) to prevent Russian athletes from participating in the European Youth Olympic Festival. This was reported by the press service of the court on Friday, March 11.
“The ROC asks CAS to reverse the contested decision and to order that athletes and officials associated with the ROC are eligible to participate in all competitions organized by the EOC, including the European Youth Olympic Festivals 2022 Winter and Summer, under the same conditions as athletes and officials associated with other National Olympic Committees,” CAS said in a statement.
It is noted that the CAS court office initiated the arbitration procedure. Currently, the parties are exchanging written statements, and a panel of arbitrators is being formed. The procedural schedule will be drawn up over the next days.
On March 2, the EOC Executive Committee decided not to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials to participate in the 2022 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival, which will be held from March 20 to 25 in the Finnish city of Vuokatti. The ROC called this decision “illegal, unreasonable and discriminatory” in relation to young Russian athletes.
International federations remove Russians from competitions
The European Youth Olympic Festival is a regional international sports competition among young athletes from 50 countries of the EOC association. The festival is held every two years. There are summer and winter festivals, which, unlike the Olympic Games, are held within one calendar year.
Earlier, Russian athletes, on the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), were suspended by a number of international federations from competitions against the backdrop of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. In some sports, Russians are allowed to start in a neutral status.
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