Russia Baits Its Breath in Anticipation of IOC Olympic Participation Ruling

The International Olympic Committee is due to make a decision on whether the Russian athletes may take part in the Olympic Games in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in the coming days, the IOC media relations office told Sputnik on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier on Thursday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against Russian athletes in their appeal against international athletics’ ban from international competitions.

CAS general secretary Matthieu Reeb said that it was up to the IOC to decide on the participation of Russian athletes and suggesting it could be determined "even on a case-by-case principle".

"The IOC takes note of the announcement of the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. We will now have to study and analyze the full decision. The IOC decision on the participation of the Russian athletes will be taken in the coming days," the press office said in a statement.

In the meantime, the Russian Olympic Committee canceled a ceremonial send-off of the national team to the Rio Olympics scheduled for July 22 after a sports court rejected ROC’s appeal against an athletics ban, head of the Russian delegation Igor Kazikov told R-Sport on Thursday.