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Russian skiers and snowboarders on Tuesday won a court ruling to be able to enter as neutral athletes to compete in qualifying events for the Cortina Winter Olympics in Milan after nearly four years of exclusion during the war with Ukraine.
Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev wrote on social media that Russia's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the blanket ban imposed by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) days after the full military invasion in February 2022. The FIS extended the ban in October.
CAS later published its decision on another legal victory for Russian and Belarusian winter sports athletes.
In October, a similar appeal to CAS by the Russian Luge Federation and its athletes ruled against a long-standing blanket ban based on their passports.
Sports organizations have excluded the Russians mainly for security reasons, to protect athletes and prevent protests that could also disrupt the rules of the game.
However, the FIS has little time to process athletes' applications for neutral status before the January 18 qualifying deadline. The Winter Olympics in Cortina in Milan will begin on February 6.
Neutral status can be approved in most sports, in accordance with International Olympic Committee recommendations for athletes who have not publicly supported the military invasion of Ukraine and do not have ties to the military or state security authorities.
Russian athletes and team officials also face problems obtaining visas to enter some countries hosting qualifying events, such as the World Cup alpine skiing, cross country skiing, freestyle skiing and snowboarding events.
FIS hosts almost half of the entire Winter Games program – 57 of the 116 events in which gold medals are awarded.
CAS said its judges had made an urgent decision, consolidating separate appeals, that Russian and Belarusian athletes meeting the qualifying standards set by the FIS should be allowed to compete in international competitions.
“Both panels [of judges] found that the FIS statutes protect individuals from discrimination and require the FIS to be politically neutral,” the Lausanne court said in a statement.
Some Russian and Belarusian athletes competed in the Paris Summer Games last year without their national flag, anthem or team colors. Both countries were banned from playing team sports.
The IOC should also assess the neutral status of Russian and Belarusian athletes before inviting them to compete at the Cortina Winter Games in Milan.
Two Russian figure skaters and one from Belarus were invited by the IOC to the Olympic Games last week.
Degtyarev said he expects just 15 Russian athletes to take part in the Winter Games.
