World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has pledged to be present in court to defend his governing body’s sanctions imposed on Russia. Russia’s athletics federation has lodged a new claim at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to challenge the World Athletics sanctions. The global body for track and field announced in July it was keeping in place a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes that was imposed in March 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian federation, Russian Athletics, claims the sanctions are “selective and politicised”. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that Russian athletes will be allowed to compete in team events and qualifying competitions for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The stance of World Athletics, headed by Britain’s two-time Olympic 1,500-metre gold medallist Coe, is in contrast to the federations of other Olympic sports.
World Gymnastics and the International Skating Union, for example, have eased restrictions on Russian competitors. Coe was in no mood late Thursday to back off, telling journalists on the sidelines of the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham that he still fully believed in World Athletics’ policy. That’s how I feel about it,” Coe said.
This is about the integrity of competition, and that is the position that we will be defending.” Ukraine slammed the IOC decision on Russian involvement in Los Angeles as “premature” and “unfounded” while Moscow’s invasion drags on through its fifth year. World Athletics set up a dedicated fund in 2022 to help support Ukrainian athletes, although the body said there was “no doubt the ability of Ukraine and its athletes to train and compete remains severely compromised”. Coe has said if a peace agreement is reached, it is not for sport to stand in the way of the Russians’ return.
The conflict, however, has left its mark on Coe after a visit he paid to Ukraine.
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