Russia鈥檚 desperate attempt to get 45 banned athletes 鈥� including several medal favourites 鈥� into the Pyeongchang Olympics failed just hours before Friday鈥檚 opening ceremony.
The International Olympic Committee had banned Russia because of a massive doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Games, but gave individual athletes the chance to apply for admission to compete as 鈥淥lympic Athletes from Russia.鈥� There were 168 Russians who passed the vetting process. Dozens more filed appeals with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
On Friday, the court upheld the IOC鈥檚 right to decide who can compete.
Anti-doping officials praised the ruling, which is a heavy blow to Russian medal chances.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 it. The story is over,鈥� Russian delegation spokesman Konstantin Vybornov said.
After two days of hearings, the CAS panel ruled that the commissions that evaluated whether Russian applicants were eligible did not act in a 鈥渄iscriminatory, arbitrary or unfair manner.鈥�
CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb read from a statement and declined to take questions, saying the IOC process 鈥渃ould not be described as a sanction but rather as an eligibility decision.鈥�
Shamil Tarpishchev, a Russian member of the IOC, said the CAS ruling may have been legally correct but he disagreed with the spirit of the ruling.
鈥淲e are fighting for the truth,鈥� he said.
The IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency welcomed the decision. The IOC said the decision 鈥渟upports the fight against doping and brings clarity for all athletes.鈥�
WADA president Craig Reedie described it as 鈥渁bsolutely correct.鈥�
Among those excluded are six-time gold medallist Viktor Ahn, the short track speedskater whose return to his native South Korea for the Olympics had been eagerly anticipated by local fans.
Also out are cross-country skiing gold medallist Alexander Legkov and skeleton gold medallist Alexander Tretiakov, as well as potential medal contenders in biathlon, luge and bobsled.
Three former NHL players 鈥� Sergei Plotnikov, Anton Belov and Valeri Nichushkin 鈥� also lost appeals, though it was widely considered unlikely they would have played even if they had been successful because the Russian roster is already full.
U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart said the decision was 鈥渁 small glimmer of hope in an otherwise dark and sordid affair.鈥�
鈥淵ou hope justice has been served but how some of these athletes can keep dirty medals from Sochi but be excluded now is hard to reconcile,鈥� Tygart said. 鈥淎nd why the IOC rushed the process on the Sochi medal decisions is unexplainable and a tragedy for clean athletes.鈥�
In a telephone interview, Reedie told The Associated Press: 鈥淚 am delighted at the decision and the way they expressed it.鈥�
鈥淭hey have quite clearly understood that there was systemic manipulation of the anti-doping process,鈥� Reedie said. 鈥淎thletes can get their heads down and go. This particular issue is behind us.鈥�
The IOC鈥檚 vetting process was designed to exclude Russian athletes from the games if IOC officials weren鈥檛 sure they were clean.
The 鈥淥lympic Athletes from Russia鈥� under the Olympic flag in a decision designed to balance the rights of individual athletes with the need for a strong deterrent to doping.
As well as the 45 athletes, the ruling covers a luge coach and a skeleton coach.
The IOC has refused to comment on individual Russian athletes but says it decided who to exclude using a newly obtained Moscow laboratory database with evidence of past doping offences.
It refused to clear some Russians even after their disqualifications from the 2014 Olympics were lifted by CAS last week.
Stephen Hess, an international sports lawyer based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said the decision was a victory for the IOC.
鈥淭here is no absolute right to get an invitation from the IOC to come to the Olympics,鈥� Hess said. 鈥淭hat was within the IOC鈥檚 discretion. If Russia had an Olympic team, CAS might have said: 鈥業OC, the Russians can put them on their own team. You can鈥檛 keep them out.鈥� But Russia doesn鈥檛 have an Olympic team.鈥�
Jim Walden, the lawyer for Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, renewed calls for IOC President Thomas Bach to resign 鈥渇or the sake of the Olympic ideal.鈥�
Walden has accused the IOC and CAS of being 鈥渃omplicit in enabling Russian doping鈥� for not implementing strong punishments for Russian athletes, including a blanket ban.
Friday鈥檚 verdict, he said, is 鈥渁 small semblance of justice for clean athletes.鈥�
Angela Ruggiero of the IOC athletes鈥� commission said the decision sent a message to athletes that 鈥測ou should be incredibly confident that every athlete, including the Olympic Athletes from Russia, have had to clear incredibly high hurdles to get here.鈥�
The barred Russian athletes, however, are still considering their legal options.
Schellenberg Wittmer, from the Swiss law firm representing the Russian athletes, said 鈥渙ur clients consider 鈥� rightly so 鈥� that the decisions are unfair and harmful 鈥� their Olympic dreams have been shattered.鈥�
Other athletes welcomed the end to the saga.
鈥淭hat is great news,鈥� said U.S. women鈥檚 skeleton athlete Katie Uhlaender, who placed fourth in the Sochi Olympics 鈥� one spot behind bronze medallist Elena Nikitina, who was one of the 45 appealing her ban.
U.S. bobsledder Nick Cunningham said 鈥淚f dirty athletes are taken out, then clean athletes will prevail. That鈥檚 what I hope.鈥�
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AP Sports Writers Stephen Wade, Tim Reynolds and Eddie Pells contributed to this report.
James Ellingworth, The Associated Press
