Russia planning to appeal Olympic ban

Russia plans to appeal its four-year ban from the Olympics over allegations it concealed lab data to hide evidence of doping, according to The Associated Press.

The supervisory board for Russia’s anti-doping agency voted to file an arbitration case with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland, the AP reported on Thursday.

The vote comes a week after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) ruled Russia had manipulated the data, a decision Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called “not just unfair but not corresponding to common sense and law.”

“We need to wait calmly for the relevant rulings, including the arbitration court ruling, and we’ll know what position we’re in,” Putin said, according to the AP. “Russian athletes have been training and will keep training for all competitions.”

“The ball will be in WADA’s court and the issue will be discussed in a legal context,” said supervisory board chairman Alexander Ivlev, the news service added. “We consider the argumentation to be fairly strong and we will see how the issue develops.”

Ivlev also said Russia will likely refer the case to CAS in the next 10-15 days, with a final verdict expected within three months after the appointment of a panel of three arbitrators.

The sanctions prohibit the use of the Russian flag, anthem or team name at several major athletics competitions, including the 2022 soccer World Cup and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Russian athletes will be permitted to compete as neutrals if they complete a vetting process that assesses their history of drug testing, according to the AP.