Skiing|The Court of Arbitration for Sport, Cas, allows Russian and Belarusian skiing athletes to participate in the Olympics.
Deputy referee and a member of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, Cas Olli Rauste says that the fate of Russian skiers is now in the hands of the International Ski Federation.
Cas announced on Tuesday that it will allow Russian and Belarusian ski athletes to compete in February’s Winter Olympics.
“In practice, it means that now the ball goes back to Fis, i.e. Russians cannot be excluded from skiing competitions based on nationality alone,” says Rauste.
According to Cas, athletes who meet the impartiality criteria of the International Olympic Committee IOC must be allowed to participate in FIS Olympic qualifying competitions.
“Fis now has to make a new decision, where it decides according to the IOC’s criteria, which Russians are eligible to participate,” says Rauste.
Veronika Stepanova rejoiced at the decision of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, Cas. The picture shows Stepanova being awarded by President Vladimir Putin for her achievements at the Beijing Olympics in April 2022.
Se means that Fis cannot stand in the way of the Russian skiers’ Olympic journey: Cas’ decision practically opens the doors for them to the Olympics.
“In practice, it opens in the same way as for athletes in other sports,” Rauste confirms.
“That decision says that discrimination on the basis of nationality is prohibited in FIS’s own rules. If there is a decision that you are a citizen of Russia and you are not allowed to participate, then it was against the FIS rules,” Rauste continues, referring to the previous policy of the FIS board.
However, skiers must meet the IOC’s own neutrality criteria in order to receive neutral athlete status.
“At the Olympics, the way it goes is that the international sports federation always decides the participants, but here there is also the possibility that when Fis decides on some basis that these Russian athletes are eligible and these are not, those individual athletes can in turn make an individual complaint to Cas,” says Rauste.
“So yes, we can get a follow-up story from this,” he continues, referring to Cas’s previous Olympic decisions.
Saveli Korostelev is one of the Russian skiers who are expected to benefit from the decision of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, Cas. Picture of the Russian championships from March 2025.
Schedule is, however, strict, so any complaints are dealt with quickly, according to Rauste.
“Without a doubt. Cas is a court specializing in sports matters, which has previously given decisions on individual complaints of a few dozen Russians in a very quick time frame,” says Rauste.
“That readiness certainly exists. Yes, Cas understands that the decision must be made in such a way that it enables participation in the Olympic Games, if Cas so decides.”