Russian top officials banned from attending World Championships and Olympics

As Novye Izvestia has already reported, until December 2022, Russian athletes will not be able to compete in international competitions under the Russian flag, this decision was made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). These are the consequences of the massive use of doping by Russian athletes. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) asked to suspend Russian athletes from participating in competitions for four years, but the court made a softer decision. At the same time, another court decision passed almost unnoticed - a ban on visiting major international competitions by senior Russian officials, including Putin.

It is known that our country will be prohibited from hosting the World Championships and the Olympic Games, but the restriction does not apply to continental competitions, so the Euro and the Champions League, scheduled for 2021 and 2022, will take place in Russia. Also, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) must compensate WADA for the costs of the case in the amount of $ 1.27 million.

WADA sanctions will not prevent St. Petersburg from hosting the European Football Championship and the Champions League final, but Russia may lose the right to host the World Championships in six sports.

The popular Metodichka channel called this decision “almost a victory”:

“Of course, it's a pity that respected TV presenters managed to disgrace themselves here in their old age, threatening Europe with a gas valve out of old habit - the rules on the “Field of Miracles” are now different, Russia has to be persuaded to buy gas from her, and for this she herself is ready to give up what anything - even from a snowboard, even from biathlon. But in the end, Russian sport received a very mild verdict, with which "you can work"".

The first and main decision of CAS is that Russian athletes will still receive neutral status, but only for 2 years (instead of 4 years requested by WADA). Two Olympics (Tokyo 2020/21 and Beijing 2022) and all variants of the Planet Championships until the end of 2022 (including the FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022, which still needs to be selected) will be held without a flag and anthem for "athletes from Russia". Complex and multi-stage selection criteria WADA CAS sent by the Black Forest: athletes should not have a valid doping penalty and open investigations.

Continental (European) championships, World Cup stages and qualifiers are not subject to a neutral ban, so the matches of the European Football Championship and the 2022 Champions League final (both tournaments in St. Petersburg), and the UEFA Super Cup 2023 (Kazan) will take place without Borders. It is possible that Russia will even be able to host the stages of its favorite winter sport, Match TV, the Biathlon World Cup. There will be no ban on Russian flags in the stands (for fans) either.

Formally, Russia was banned from hosting World Championships (in any sport) and Olympics. But the Olympics are not expected in Russia, of the championships - only the world championship in volleyball in 2022, but it will probably be able to "save" it. CAS added an ornate wording about "transfer, if there is such a possibility", which in translation from sports-legal means "if you really want to, you can".

The anti-doping agency RUSADA is again deprived of compliance status, but this is already according to the protocol - Russian officials must thank the sports god for the ridiculous war with the ex-head of RUSADA Yuri Ganus without consequences.

By the way, it was the officials who received the "watchtower" - sports officials will not be able to be members of councils or committees, or any other divisions of international sports federations that have signed the WADA code, to attend major competitions, and the heads of the Russian Olympic and Paralympic Committees will probably not even be able to watch FNL games, perhaps only on TV..."

Among the officials was Putin, whom CAS also banned from attending the World Championships and the Olympic Games in the next two years, Sports.ru reports.

The CAS decision states that the ban on visiting major tournaments applies to the entire Russian government: ministers and their deputies, the prime minister and his deputies, deputies of the State Duma, as well as the president. Also, visiting tournaments is prohibited for heads and deputies of state organizations, the entire presidential administration and employees of the Investigative Committee of Russia.

There can be exceptions only in three cases:

- if any of the above are personally invited by the president or prime minister of the country in which the tournament will be held;

- if the representative of the Russian government is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

- if this representative is himself an athlete participating in the tournament, or one of the team members (for example, a coach)