MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will have to comply with a decision by the Ad Hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in South Korea regarding Russian athletes, former CAS judge Bard Racin Meltvedt told Norway’s NRK TV.
Earlier, 45 Russian athletes and two coaches have filed lawsuits against the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the Ad Hoc Division in South Korea for not receiving an invitation to the Olympic Games.
"The CAS ad hoc division has three judges, a decision on a separate individual is made by a simple majority. The IOC will have to obey decisions made by the CAS division, because article 61 of the Olympic Charter states that the IOC must to comply with it," he said.
On Monday, the IOC announced it had refused to invite 13 Russian athletes and two coaches who were earlier cleared by CAS to the Games. A total of 168 Russian athletes were invited to take part in the Olympics, although the Russian Olympic Committee initially applied for 500.
As the IOC has suspended the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee, Russians will take part in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games under the classification of neutral athletes, or the OAR status, which stands for ‘Olympic Athlete from Russia.’ The 2018 Winter Games will be held in PyeongChang, South Korea, on February 9-25.