UPDATE ON THE ARBITRATION PROCEDURES
CURRENTLY BEFORE THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT (CAS) INVOLVING
RUSSIAN ATHLETES
Lausanne, 21 December 2015
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has a number of pending
procedures involving athletes from the Russian Federation and provides
the following information as to their status:
IAAF v. ARAF & Sergey
Kirdyapkin & RUSADA
Hearing held in Lausanne, Switzerland on 2 & 3 December 2015
IAAF v. ARAF & Sergey
Bakulin & RUSADA
Hearing held in Lausanne, Switzerland on 2 & 3 December 2015
IAAF v. ARAF & Olga
Kaniskina & RUSADA
Hearing held in Lausanne, Switzerland on 2 & 3 December 2015
IAAF v. ARAF & Valeriy
Borchin & RUSADA
Hearing held in Lausanne, Switzerland on 2 & 3 December 2015
IAAF v. ARAF & Vladimir
Kanaikin & RUSADA
Hearing held in Lausanne, Switzerland on 2 & 3 December 2015
IAAF v. ARAF & Yuliya
Zaripova & RUSADA
Hearing to be held on 26 February 2016
The
above
procedures have all been referred to the same panel of CAS arbitrators
which
will simultaneously issue an Arbitral Award for each case after the
final case
has been heard in February 2016
Following tomorrow's hearing before CAS, the Court of Arbitration
for Sport,
it is widely believed that Togher AC, and Ireland's, Rob
Heffernan, will be
retrospectively awarded the Bronze medal from the 2012 London Olympics.
If the Russian Athlete is, as expected, banned, each of the three
athletes finishing behind Kirdyapkin, in the London Olympics,
Australian, Jared Tallent, China's Tianfeng SI and Ireland's Rob
Heffernan will be presented with the respective Gold, Silver and
Bronze Olympic medals.
Recently, the IAAF decided that all future
medal reallocations will take place as "Podium Ceremonies".
Should Rob be awarded the Olympic Bronze Medal, it
remains to be seen where and when Rob will be formally presented with
the Bronze medal. A local Cork suggestion is that a special
awards ceremony, for the many medal re-awards might take place during
the opening day of the 2016 Olympics in Rio. While that may seem,
literally, four years too late, it will give the opportunity for the
world to acclain the rightful Olympic medalists in an appropriate
setting. No doubt we will have another opportunity for a proper
Cork celebration of Rob's medal presentation.
Photo: Sergey
Kirdyapkin - Irish Times
The "winner", Russian athlete Sergey Kirdyapkin, had previously been
banned, for doping violation, by
RUSADA, the Russian Athletics Federation. However RUSADA had
'selectively' banned Kirdyapkin, with the ban period spanning, but
excluding the London Olympics.
Perversely, even if his appeal, tomorrow, to CAS fails, it appears that
Kirdyapkin will
still be eligible, assuming that the Russian Federation has been
rehabilitated by then, to compete in next year's Olympic Games, in Rio,
as his ban will have expired.
The two Russian racewalkers, Sergey Kirdyapkin, winner of the Gold
medal, in the Men's 50k walk, at the 2012 London Olympics, and Olga
Kaniskina, Silver medalist in the London 2012 Olympic women's 20k
walk, were banned for thirty eight months, but the ban period did not
include the period of the Olympic Games, leaving the athletes eligible
to compete.
The other four athletes are the racewalkers Sergei Bakulin, who was
also suspended for thirty eight months, but who retained the 50k World
Title won in 2011, Valery Borchin, banned for 8 years following his
second infraction, Vladimir Kanaykin, banned for life for repeated
infractions, and the hurdles champion Yulia Zaripova, who had some of
her results from 2011, and the London 2012 Olympics deleted.
Editorial Comment
I was present on The Mall in London, for both the women's 20k walk, and
the men's 50k walk. It was fabulous to see the Irish talent
of Olive Loughnane and Laura Reynolds, in the women's 20k walk in the
morning, with Rob Heffernan, Brendan Boyce and Colin Griffin competing
along with the cream of the sport. The weather was wonderful - for
spectators anyway - and the atmosphere was absolutely electric.
Rob came through with a finishing charge worthy of a medal - as it now
appears certain, that was absolutely true. Indeed, all the Irish
athletes
gave it their all that day. It gives me a sick feeling to find
that the 'winner' should not have been present, let alone allowed
compete and
"Take" the Gold. I cannot comprehend the feelings that Rob and
his fellow competitors must be experiencing
Photo: Sergey
Kirdyapkin - Irish Times