Darya Klishina can compete at Rio 2016, CAS rules
Darya Klishina will be allowed to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has announced.
The Russian long jumper’s participation at the Games had seemed in doubt after the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) stated on Saturday (August 13) that it would be withdrawing Klishina's “exceptional eligibility” status.
The 25-year-old had been cleared by the IAAF to compete internationally as an independent neutral athlete after the sport's world governing body upheld the suspension of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) as an IAAF Member on June 17, resulting in the continued ban on Russian athletes from international competition.
However, on Saturday the IAAF stated that Klishina’s “exceptional eligibility” status had been withdrawn based on new information. The athlete challenged the IAAF decision at CAS, who upheld her appeal.
This means Klishina will line up in the qualifying round of the long jump competition on Tuesday (August 16) as the sole Russian track and field athlete at the Olympics.
"The ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 has rendered its decision in the case of the Russian athlete Darya Klishina (“the Athlete”) (long jump) against the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)," read a CAS statement.
"The Athlete challenged the decision rendered by the IAAF Doping Review Board (IAAF DRB) on 12 August 2016, which revoked its previous decision declaring her exceptionally eligible to compete in international competitions, including the athletics competition at the Olympic Games 2016.
"Such decision, declaring her ineligible to compete, was based on new factual elements concerning the Athlete presented by Prof. Richard McLaren in addition to his report delivered on 18 July 2016. On that basis, the IAAF DRB determined that the Athlete was directly affected and tainted by State-organized doping scheme described in the McLaren Report. Furthermore, the IAAF DRB noted that the results management in respect of certain of the Athlete’s samples has been subject to tampering and manipulation during the “relevant period” (i.e. starting on 1 January 2014).
"The CAS Panel in charge of this matter heard the parties and their representatives today between 11am and 3pm. At 1:00am today, the parties were informed that the application was upheld and that the Athlete remained eligible to compete in the Olympic Games in Rio. The CAS Panel applied the IAAF Competition Rules to conclude that the previous decision of the IAAF DRB, that the Athlete complied with the relevant criteria because of her permanent residence outside Russia, still applied despite the additional information provided by Prof. McLaren. Relevantly, the Athlete established that she was subject to fully compliant drug-testing in- and out-of-competition outside of Russia for the “relevant period”.
In a statement released in response to the CAS decision, the IAAF said: "We instigated a review process following new evidence presented to us. The outcome we reached to revoke Darya Klishina's exceptional eligibility was not upheld by CAS despite the information received from McLaren and she is therefore eligible to compete in Rio."
Further information is set to be published on the CAS website once it is available.
