Russian weightlifting team's ban from Olympics confirmed by CAS
By Andy Charles
Last Updated: 03/08/16 9:38pm
No Russian weightlifters will compete at the Olympic Games in Rio after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected an appeal over a ban imposed by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).
The entire Russian team was banned last week after the IWF said "the integrity of weightlifting has been seriously damaged on multiple times and levels by the Russians."
The Russian Weightlifting Federation appealed to CAS but sport's ultimate court found against them.
"The appeal has been dismissed," CAS secretary General Matthieu Reeb said.
"The CAS panel in charge of this case has determined that the decision of the IWF was valid and proportionate to the circumstances.
"There have been criticisms about the CAS decision with respect to athletics a few days ago, but our activity, our job, is really to render decisions according to the law, we are not a political body, we do not express political opinions and of course we cannot be seen as a political institution.
"Maybe fans or the public in Russia may consider us as the bad guys but in reality it should not be so."
Sports were given individual responsibility over banning teams or competitors from the Olympics in the wake of the McLaren Report, which exposed evidence of state-sponsored doping inside Russia.
In a statement last week the IWF said: "We would like to highlight the extremely shocking and disappointing statistics regarding the Russian weightlifters."
A similar appeal by Russia's rowing federation was dismissed on Tuesday.
