IOC to Halt Suspending Russian Team From Rio Olympics Until CAS Hearing

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will not ban the Russian national team from the Summer Games in Rio next month until the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) rules on the Russian track and field athletes’ appeal, British media reported Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The IOC Executive Board is scheduled to convene a telephone conference on Tuesday following the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) report on Monday claiming state-sanctioned doping practices in Russia.

“IOC's position complicated by Thursday's upcoming CAS decision on Russian track and field team ban. No blanket ban poss[ible] while ruling pending,” A Sky Sports reported said via Twitter.

The CAS appeals hearing in the All-Russia Athletic Federation’s (ARAF) claim against the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) is reportedly underway in Geneva.

Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva is representing Russian athletes in the case, alongside British lawyer Mike Morgan, ARAF President Dmitry Shliakhtin, ARAF Secretary General Mikhail Butov, and Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) head of legal department Alexander Brilliantov.