GENEVA, May 22. /TASS/. The Swiss Federal Tribunal has rejected an appeal from former Russian biathlete Yevgeny Ustyugov challenging a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to strip him of his 2010 and 2014 Olympic medals, the press office of the Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) announced in a statement on Thursday.

"The International Biathlon Union (IBU) and the Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) welcome the decision of the Swiss Federal Tribunal to reject the appeals of former Russian biathlete Yevgeny Ustyugov," the statement reads.

"These final rulings uphold the previous decisions of the IBU Anti-Doping Hearing Panel and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), confirming sanctions for anti-doping rule violations," according to the statement.

The statement from the BIU quoted Greg McKenna, Head of the BIU office as saying: "These decisions from the Swiss Federal Tribunal brings finality to a long-running case and stands as an important step in upholding clean sport."

"While we regret the time it has taken to reach this point, the ruling reinforces the principle that doping violations will be identified and sanctioned, however complex the process may be," McKenna continued.

"We continue to encourage all institutions involved in sports arbitration to work towards more timely resolutions, so that the integrity of competition is preserved and clean athletes are protected," she said.

The IBU’s statement regarding Ustyugov’s case also reads in particular that: "The decisions of the Swiss Federal Tribunal represent the final instance of appeal. With this ruling, the verdicts of the IBU Anti-Doping Hearing Panel and the Court of Arbitration for Sport now become legally binding."

"It is now the responsibility of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board to decide on the reallocation of medals from the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Winter Games."

Ustyugov, 39, retired from sports in 2014. He won the gold medal in the mass start event and the bronze medal in men’s team relay at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. He took another gold at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games held in Sochi, Russia, also in the men’s team relay event.

In 2020, the Anti-Doping Panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS ADD) found him guilty of an anti-doping rule violation, nullifying his results from January 24, 2010 to the end of the 2013/14 season. The accusations against the Russian athlete were brought forward by the International Biathlon Union (IBU).

In 2017 - three years after Ustyugov announced his retirement, the IBU charged him with alleged abuse of performance enhancing drugs based on data from his Biological Passport. The Russian filed an appeal with a Swiss court and won the case, but the IBU filed another case against him in 2020 on the same charges.

Last November, the BIU announced that the Appeals Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland had rejected Ustyugov’s appeal not to strip him of the two medals he won at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Following the Swiss Federal Tribunal’s decision regarding Ustyugov’s annulment of the medal, the Russian national team lost its top place in medals standings at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Following the Swiss Federal Tribunal’s decision on May 22, the national squad of Norway now tops the overall medal standings of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Russia’s southern resort city of Sochi having finished it with11 gold, six silver and nine bronze medals.

Russia follows Norway in the 2nd place with 10 gold, 10 silver and nine bronze medals while Canada rounds up the Top-3 in Russia’s Sochi with 10 gold, 10 silver and five bronze medals.