Russia&#39;s weightlifters face being banned from the Rio Olympics, subject to confirmation by the International Olympic Committee, in another collective doping punishment to hit the country. 
 
Five days after its track and field team&#39;s suspension from the 2016 Games was upheld, Russia&#39;s weightlifters are now also set to be suspended from the 2016 Olympics. 
 
Belarus and weightlifting superpower Kazakhstan were also banned over failed retests from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics on Wednesday by the sport&#39;s governing body, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), which also punished other nations by reducing the number of available athlete slots in Rio. 
 
Retrospective doping tests carried out by the IOC have led to 17 positives from 2008 and 2012, said the IWF. The governing body added there may be more cases to come. 
 
The IWF is awaiting confirmation of those failures and a final tally from the IOC, who were not immediately available when contacted late on Wednesday by Reuters. 
 
Earlier this week the IOC supported the IAAF&#39;s decision to continue its ban on all Russian track and field athletes as a collective punishment for the country&#39;s systematic doping problems, saying that such a decision was for each sport&#39;s federation. 
 
Because of those results, and an unprecedented 24 positives at the weightlifting world championships in Houston, Texas, last November, a special meeting was called for this week in Tbilisi, host of this weekend&#39;s youth world championships. 
 
The IWF, stressing its &ldquo;zero tolerance&rdquo; towards dopers, said it had taken 11 places away from teams who had committed four or more doping offences in 2015. Two of those teams were Russia and Kazakhstan, so the sanctions could yet be overtaken by a team ban. The others were Azerbaijan, North Korea and Moldova (two places each) and Belarus (one). 
 
As for the banning of entire teams, the IWF said in a statement: &ldquo;The IWF Executive Board has decided that national federations confirmed to have produced three or more anti-doping rule violations in the combined re-analysis process of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games shall be suspended for one year.&nbsp;Countries thus subject to suspension are Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus.&quot; 
 
Because the tests were not carried out by the IWF, the sport&#39;s administrators are seeking formal confirmation from the IOC that the positives are not subject to appeal or amendment. 
 
The executive board also castigated the European Weightlifting Federation for its recent appointment of Sergey Systsov, president of the Russian Federation, as chair of its anti-doping commission. 
 
&quot;Given the current environment, the IWF Executive Board strongly suggests that Mr Syrtsov and the European Weightlifting Federation reconsiders the appointment,&rdquo; said a statement. 
 
The IWF has set up an independent commission to investigate the nations who returned three or more positives from the retesting of 2008 and 2012 samples, which was carried out after advances in science enabled better detection of prohibited substances. 
 
The worst offender was Kazakhstan. Ilya Ilyin, the world&rsquo;s most popular weightlifter, is expected to lose his gold medals from Beijing and London, while three Kazakh women who won in 2012 also tested positive. 
 
The IWF also vowed to toughen its anti-doping policy in future, threatening to ban nations who had the worst doping record during an Olympic qualifying period. It also said it would set up a task force and aimed to test every athlete, before the Games, who will be competing in Rio. 
 
The situation as of now indicates that four nations will not be allowed to compete in Rio. Bulgaria had been excluded last year, after 11 lifters at a training camp tested positive. Romania and Uzbekistan had already lost one quota place each. 
 
(Reuters)

Five days after its track and field team's suspension was upheld, Russia's weightlifters are now also set to be suspended from the Games

Russia's weightlifters face being banned from the Rio Olympics, subject to confirmation by the International Olympic Committee, in another collective doping punishment to hit the country. Five days after its track and field team's suspension from the 2016 Games was upheld, Russia's weightlifters are now also set to be suspended from the 2016 Olympics. Belarus and weightlifting superpower Kazakhstan were also banned over failed retests from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics on Wednesday by the sport's governing body, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), which also punished other nations by reducing the number of available athlete slots in Rio. Retrospective doping tests carried out by the IOC have led to 17 positives from 2008 and 2012, said the IWF. The governing body added there may be more cases to come. The IWF is awaiting confirmation of those failures and a final tally from the IOC, who were not immediately available when contacted late on Wednesday by Reuters. Earlier this week the IOC supported the IAAF's decision to continue its ban on all Russian track and field athletes as a collective punishment for the country's systematic doping problems, saying that such a decision was for each sport's federation. Because of those results, and an unprecedented 24 positives at the weightlifting world championships in Houston, Texas, last November, a special meeting was called for this week in Tbilisi, host of this weekend's youth world championships. The IWF, stressing its “zero tolerance” towards dopers, said it had taken 11 places away from teams who had committed four or more doping offences in 2015. Two of those teams were Russia and Kazakhstan, so the sanctions could yet be overtaken by a team ban. The others were Azerbaijan, North Korea and Moldova (two places each) and Belarus (one). As for the banning of entire teams, the IWF said in a statement: “The IWF Executive Board has decided that national federations confirmed to have produced three or more anti-doping rule violations in the combined re-analysis process of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games shall be suspended for one year. Countries thus subject to suspension are Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus." Because the tests were not carried out by the IWF, the sport's administrators are seeking formal confirmation from the IOC that the positives are not subject to appeal or amendment. The executive board also castigated the European Weightlifting Federation for its recent appointment of Sergey Systsov, president of the Russian Federation, as chair of its anti-doping commission. "Given the current environment, the IWF Executive Board strongly suggests that Mr Syrtsov and the European Weightlifting Federation reconsiders the appointment,” said a statement. The IWF has set up an independent commission to investigate the nations who returned three or more positives from the retesting of 2008 and 2012 samples, which was carried out after advances in science enabled better detection of prohibited substances. The worst offender was Kazakhstan. Ilya Ilyin, the world’s most popular weightlifter, is expected to lose his gold medals from Beijing and London, while three Kazakh women who won in 2012 also tested positive. The IWF also vowed to toughen its anti-doping policy in future, threatening to ban nations who had the worst doping record during an Olympic qualifying period. It also said it would set up a task force and aimed to test every athlete, before the Games, who will be competing in Rio. The situation as of now indicates that four nations will not be allowed to compete in Rio. Bulgaria had been excluded last year, after 11 lifters at a training camp tested positive. Romania and Uzbekistan had already lost one quota place each. (Reuters)

Russia faces another Rio ban over dope tests

World athletics federation IAAF has&nbsp;come closer to destroying sport in Russia than helping it develop by suspending the country&#39;s track and field team over doping offences, the Russian sport minister said. 
 
First imposed in November, the IAAF ban was extended on Friday and supported by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Saturday. 
 
&quot;I have written an open letter to (the IAAF)... If you are an organisation whose aim is to develop athletics then you have done everything to destroy it,&quot; Vitaly Mutko told Reuters in an interview. 
 
Russian track and field athletes had not participated in international competitions in January. 
 
&quot;I, on behalf of the state, cannot finance the country&#39;s national team. That means all this is falling apart. Next, I cannot finance the training centre, all these are closing down. The young athletes do not have any motivation,&quot; Mutko said. 
 
Individual Russian track and field athletes assessed as clean will be able to compete for their country in Brazil, IOC President Thomas Bach said on Tuesday, diluting the IAAF&#39;s ban. 
 
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach also said all competitors from both Russia and Kenya would, given their countries&#39; recent history of doping, have to be screened individually before being allowed to participate in the Games. 
 
He did not elaborate on what the evaluation would include. 
 
The Russian track and field team remains suspended from Rio de Janeiro after the IOC supported the ban, for systemic doping, which world athletics federation IAAF had extended on Friday. 
 
But Bach, speaking at the end of a summit on doping, offered a limited number of Russian athletes the chance to race under their flag. 
 
In a decision welcomed by the sports ministry in Moscow, he said those cleared by the IAAF or the Court of Arbitration for Sport as clean and eligible would be able to compete in Brazil. 
 
The unsatisfactory record of anti-doping bodies in Russia, as well as Kenya, had put &quot;very serious doubts on the presumption of innocence&quot; of their athletes, Bach said. 
 
But they had the right of appeal and &quot;if there are (Russian) athletes qualified then they will compete as members of the Russian Olympic Committee team,&quot; he told reporters. 
 
The IAAF had said on Friday that any Russian athlete would have to compete under a neutral flag, a recommendation it reiterated on Tuesday following Bach&#39;s comments. 
 
&quot;This decision has been unequivocally supported across sport and the IOC Summit today unanimously agreed to fully respect the IAAF decision,&quot; the federation said in a statement. 
 
(Reuters)&nbsp;

However, Russia's sports minister has said that the suspensions are destroying sport in the country

World athletics federation IAAF has come closer to destroying sport in Russia than helping it develop by suspending the country's track and field team over doping offences, the Russian sport minister said. First imposed in November, the IAAF ban was extended on Friday and supported by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Saturday. "I have written an open letter to (the IAAF)... If you are an organisation whose aim is to develop athletics then you have done everything to destroy it," Vitaly Mutko told Reuters in an interview. Russian track and field athletes had not participated in international competitions in January. "I, on behalf of the state, cannot finance the country's national team. That means all this is falling apart. Next, I cannot finance the training centre, all these are closing down. The young athletes do not have any motivation," Mutko said. Individual Russian track and field athletes assessed as clean will be able to compete for their country in Brazil, IOC President Thomas Bach said on Tuesday, diluting the IAAF's ban. International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach also said all competitors from both Russia and Kenya would, given their countries' recent history of doping, have to be screened individually before being allowed to participate in the Games. He did not elaborate on what the evaluation would include. The Russian track and field team remains suspended from Rio de Janeiro after the IOC supported the ban, for systemic doping, which world athletics federation IAAF had extended on Friday. But Bach, speaking at the end of a summit on doping, offered a limited number of Russian athletes the chance to race under their flag. In a decision welcomed by the sports ministry in Moscow, he said those cleared by the IAAF or the Court of Arbitration for Sport as clean and eligible would be able to compete in Brazil. The unsatisfactory record of anti-doping bodies in Russia, as well as Kenya, had put "very serious doubts on the presumption of innocence" of their athletes, Bach said. But they had the right of appeal and "if there are (Russian) athletes qualified then they will compete as members of the Russian Olympic Committee team," he told reporters. The IAAF had said on Friday that any Russian athlete would have to compete under a neutral flag, a recommendation it reiterated on Tuesday following Bach's comments. "This decision has been unequivocally supported across sport and the IOC Summit today unanimously agreed to fully respect the IAAF decision," the federation said in a statement. (Reuters)

IOC offers Rio lifeline to Russian track and field athletes

Craig Reedie, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, indicated today that he would be prepared to back a complete ban for the entire Russia team from August&#39;s Olympic Games in Rio. 
 
The founding president of WADA, Dick Pound, told Britain&#39;s Sunday Times newspaper that such a ban was &quot;not impossible&quot;. 
 
Friday saw the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) uphold an international ban on Russia&#39;s track and field competitors first imposed in November after a WADA team led by veteran Canadian sports administrator Pound revealed state-sponsored doping and mass corruption in Russian athletics.&nbsp; 
 
The Russia team is now ruled out of all events in athletics in Rio, although Russian athletes training outside the country can apply to compete as neutrals at the August 5-21 event in Brazil. 
 
The IAAF&#39;s decision was endorsed by the International Olympic Committee on Saturday. 
 
But there are fears that the scale of Russia&#39;s breaking of doping rules extend beyond just track and field. 
 
In May, WADA set up a new investigation under Professor Richard McLaren, a Canadian law professor and longstanding member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), into allegations of state-backed doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. 
 
Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian lab now living in Los Angeles, also gave an interview to the New York Times last month in which he said he switched tainted urine samples for clean ones at the doping lab used for the Sochi Games, with help from people he believed to be officers of the Russian security services. 
 
McLaren, who is due to deliver his full report by July 15, said in a preliminary statement on Friday he had evidence that Russia&#39;s Ministry of Sport was involved in instructing a Moscow laboratory to &quot;not report positive sample results over the period before, during and after&quot; the 2013 World Athletics Championships. 
 
&quot;In the coming weeks, we will learn the outcome of our independent McLaren investigation,&quot; Reedie, speaking at the WADA symposium at London`s Lord&#39;s Cricket Ground, said Monday. 
 
&quot;If his report indicates transgressions of any kind, then there will be a precedent-setting opportunity to demonstrate our collective commitment to cleaning up sport,&quot; added the veteran British sports administrator, who reiterated WADA&#39;s support for the IAAF ban on Russia. 
 
&quot;The world will be watching.&quot; 
 
Reedie said the fact anti-doping laboratories in Beijing, Bloemfontein, Lisbon, Madrid and Moscow had all had their WADA accreditation suspended was proof that the organisation had taken &quot;decisive action&quot; by hearing the &quot;strength of the athlete&#39;s voice&quot; in insisting labs maintain the &quot;highest standards&quot;. 
 
This, said Reedie, was all part of &quot;levelling the playing field for each and every athlete competing in Rio&quot;.&nbsp; 
 
Meanwhile Reedie repeated his calls for increased WADA funding from national governments and also suggested that, for the first time, broadcasters and media rights-holders might want to contribute to the budget. 
 
Reedie said WADA was &quot;punching above its weight&quot; on a budget of less than $30 million a year, which he noted was less than the annual income of Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, recently banned for a doping violation. 
 
Reedie added that 0.5 per cent of the worldwide sports television rights market would produce a WADA budget of $175 million and that it was in the rights-holders&#39; interest to promote clean sport. 
 
Russian President Vladmir Putin&nbsp;has labelled the IAAF&#39;s ban on his country&#39;s athletes as &quot;unjust and unfair&quot;. 
 
But IAAF president Sebastian Coe, who won Olympic 1500 metres gold and 800m silver for Great Britain at the 1980 Moscow Games, wrote in Britain&#39;s Sunday Telegraph: &quot;We have not prevented clean athletes from Russia from competing, rather the Russian system has cataclysmically failed their clean athletes.&quot; 
(AFP)

Russian athletes training outside the country can apply to compete as neutrals at the August event in Brazil

Craig Reedie, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, indicated today that he would be prepared to back a complete ban for the entire Russia team from August's Olympic Games in Rio. The founding president of WADA, Dick Pound, told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper that such a ban was "not impossible". Friday saw the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) uphold an international ban on Russia's track and field competitors first imposed in November after a WADA team led by veteran Canadian sports administrator Pound revealed state-sponsored doping and mass corruption in Russian athletics. The Russia team is now ruled out of all events in athletics in Rio, although Russian athletes training outside the country can apply to compete as neutrals at the August 5-21 event in Brazil. The IAAF's decision was endorsed by the International Olympic Committee on Saturday. But there are fears that the scale of Russia's breaking of doping rules extend beyond just track and field. In May, WADA set up a new investigation under Professor Richard McLaren, a Canadian law professor and longstanding member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), into allegations of state-backed doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian lab now living in Los Angeles, also gave an interview to the New York Times last month in which he said he switched tainted urine samples for clean ones at the doping lab used for the Sochi Games, with help from people he believed to be officers of the Russian security services. McLaren, who is due to deliver his full report by July 15, said in a preliminary statement on Friday he had evidence that Russia's Ministry of Sport was involved in instructing a Moscow laboratory to "not report positive sample results over the period before, during and after" the 2013 World Athletics Championships. "In the coming weeks, we will learn the outcome of our independent McLaren investigation," Reedie, speaking at the WADA symposium at London`s Lord's Cricket Ground, said Monday. "If his report indicates transgressions of any kind, then there will be a precedent-setting opportunity to demonstrate our collective commitment to cleaning up sport," added the veteran British sports administrator, who reiterated WADA's support for the IAAF ban on Russia. "The world will be watching." Reedie said the fact anti-doping laboratories in Beijing, Bloemfontein, Lisbon, Madrid and Moscow had all had their WADA accreditation suspended was proof that the organisation had taken "decisive action" by hearing the "strength of the athlete's voice" in insisting labs maintain the "highest standards". This, said Reedie, was all part of "levelling the playing field for each and every athlete competing in Rio". Meanwhile Reedie repeated his calls for increased WADA funding from national governments and also suggested that, for the first time, broadcasters and media rights-holders might want to contribute to the budget. Reedie said WADA was "punching above its weight" on a budget of less than $30 million a year, which he noted was less than the annual income of Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, recently banned for a doping violation. Reedie added that 0.5 per cent of the worldwide sports television rights market would produce a WADA budget of $175 million and that it was in the rights-holders' interest to promote clean sport. Russian President Vladmir Putin has labelled the IAAF's ban on his country's athletes as "unjust and unfair". But IAAF president Sebastian Coe, who won Olympic 1500 metres gold and 800m silver for Great Britain at the 1980 Moscow Games, wrote in Britain's Sunday Telegraph: "We have not prevented clean athletes from Russia from competing, rather the Russian system has cataclysmically failed their clean athletes." (AFP)

World Anti-Doping Agency prepared to ban entire Russian team from Rio Olympics

Russia`s sports minister said today that the country has carried out the anti-doping measures demanded by the world athletics governing body IAAF, adding that Russia was ready to help doping officers gain access to athletes. 
 
Minister Vitaly Mutko spoke after a damning new report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said hundreds of Russian athletes had declined to be tested and the IAAF Council is set to meet on Friday to decide whether to lift the ban against Russian athletes. 
 
&quot;At the end of the day we have fulfilled all the criteria, everything that they demanded of us. All the athletes are under control,&quot; Mutko told Interfax news agency. 
 
He said he would read the new WADA report, issued on Wednesday, and write to its president Craig Reedie to tell him: &quot;If you need government help, inform us, don`t wait until the last minute.&quot; 
 
&quot;We will do everything possible for doping inspectors to visit any city, even a closed city,&quot; Mutko said, referring to Russian cities with controlled public access due to secret installations.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;Just make lists in advance and you will get passes, you will visit them.&quot; 
 
(AFP)

Country's sports minister speaks up after WADA report said hundreds of the country's athletes had refused to be tested

Russia`s sports minister said today that the country has carried out the anti-doping measures demanded by the world athletics governing body IAAF, adding that Russia was ready to help doping officers gain access to athletes. Minister Vitaly Mutko spoke after a damning new report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said hundreds of Russian athletes had declined to be tested and the IAAF Council is set to meet on Friday to decide whether to lift the ban against Russian athletes. "At the end of the day we have fulfilled all the criteria, everything that they demanded of us. All the athletes are under control," Mutko told Interfax news agency. He said he would read the new WADA report, issued on Wednesday, and write to its president Craig Reedie to tell him: "If you need government help, inform us, don`t wait until the last minute." "We will do everything possible for doping inspectors to visit any city, even a closed city," Mutko said, referring to Russian cities with controlled public access due to secret installations. "Just make lists in advance and you will get passes, you will visit them." (AFP)

Russia has fulfilled all IAAF doping criteria, says Mutko

The &#39;B&#39; samples of two Russian women&#39;s weightlifting medalists from the 2008 Beijing Olympics have come back positive for steroids, Russian state news agency Tass reported yesterday.
Marina Shainova who won silver in the 58-kilogram class and Nadezhda Evstyukhina, bronze medalist in the 75-kg division, were among 10 Russian medalists from Beijing who reportedly tested positive last month in International Olympic Committee (IOC) reanalysis of their stored samples.

Shainova&#39;s coach, Vladimir Shainov, told Tass that the two lifters have now also tested positive for turinabol in their &quot;B&quot; samples.

&quot;The document about a further decision has not come yet, but now of course, they will take away the medal and disqualify. Evstyukhina is in the same situation,&quot; he said.

Once a &quot;B&quot; sample confirms the original positive finding, the IOC can open a formal doping case. The two could be stripped of their medals. Other Russian medalists from the Beijing Games who were reported to have failed retests last month included bronze medalist Anna Chicherova, who won the high jump gold at the London 2012 Games and Yulia Chermoshanskaya who won gold in the 4x100-meter relay.
The IOC stores Olympic doping samples for 10 years, so that it can reanalyze them when new testing methods become available.

Document about a further decision is yet to come, but medals will be taken away from Marina Shainova and Nadezhda Evstyukhina

The 'B' samples of two Russian women's weightlifting medalists from the 2008 Beijing Olympics have come back positive for steroids, Russian state news agency Tass reported yesterday. Marina Shainova who won silver in the 58-kilogram class and Nadezhda Evstyukhina, bronze medalist in the 75-kg division, were among 10 Russian medalists from Beijing who reportedly tested positive last month in International Olympic Committee (IOC) reanalysis of their stored samples. Shainova's coach, Vladimir Shainov, told Tass that the two lifters have now also tested positive for turinabol in their "B" samples. "The document about a further decision has not come yet, but now of course, they will take away the medal and disqualify. Evstyukhina is in the same situation," he said. Once a "B" sample confirms the original positive finding, the IOC can open a formal doping case. The two could be stripped of their medals. Other Russian medalists from the Beijing Games who were reported to have failed retests last month included bronze medalist Anna Chicherova, who won the high jump gold at the London 2012 Games and Yulia Chermoshanskaya who won gold in the 4x100-meter relay. The IOC stores Olympic doping samples for 10 years, so that it can reanalyze them when new testing methods become available.

Two Russian Olympic weightlifting medalists fail doping tests

Olympic skating champion Claudia Pechstein&#39;s claim damages against the International Skating Union (ISU) over a doping ban was ruled as inadmissible by a German court today. This dealt her years-long effort for compensation a crushing blow. 
 
The Federal Court of Justice decided the domestic courts should not hear her case after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), considered the highest sports tribunal, had rejected Pechstein&#39;s appeal over her ban. 
 
The five-time Olympic champion was seeking more than 4 million euros in damages from the ISU after it banned her for two years in 2009 over irregular blood results, although the German never failed a drugs test. 
 
She insisted, providing extensive scientific data, that she had a hereditary blood condition that her father also had. 
 
Her case had been seen as a litmus test, with a win potentially triggering a flood of doping cases being challenged in domestic courts around the world and eroding the position of CAS. She vowed to fight on at the Constitutional Court. 
 
The Federal Court, Germany&#39;s highest for civil and criminal jurisdiction, said an arbitration agreement between her and the ISU at the time she had tested positive, which ruled out taking the case to a domestic court, was valid. 
 
&quot;The anti-trust division of the Federal Court of Justice did not follow the argumentation of the plaintiff,&quot; it said in a statement. &quot;It decides that her suit is inadmissible as it is opposed by the defence of the arbitration agreement.&quot; 
 
The CAS rejected her appeal as did the Swiss Federal Tribunal. However, a Munich court said in 2015 that it would allow the 44-year-old skater to go ahead with a lawsuit. 
 
The skater said she would now take the case to the next stage, the Federal Constitutional Court. 
 
&quot;Despite this verdict I am not considering giving up,&quot; she wrote on her website. &quot;The battle for justice will be continued at the Federal Constitutional Court.&quot; 
 
Pechstein, who missed the 2010 Vancouver Games due to the ban, competed at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, narrowly missing out on medals in the 3,000m and 5,000m. 
 
The athlete has said she wants to compete at the 2018 winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in what would be her seventh Games.

After the International Skating Union had banned her for two years in 2009, the speed skater sought for more than 4 million euros in damages. However, she never failed a drug test

Olympic skating champion Claudia Pechstein's claim damages against the International Skating Union (ISU) over a doping ban was ruled as inadmissible by a German court today. This dealt her years-long effort for compensation a crushing blow. The Federal Court of Justice decided the domestic courts should not hear her case after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), considered the highest sports tribunal, had rejected Pechstein's appeal over her ban. The five-time Olympic champion was seeking more than 4 million euros in damages from the ISU after it banned her for two years in 2009 over irregular blood results, although the German never failed a drugs test. She insisted, providing extensive scientific data, that she had a hereditary blood condition that her father also had. Her case had been seen as a litmus test, with a win potentially triggering a flood of doping cases being challenged in domestic courts around the world and eroding the position of CAS. She vowed to fight on at the Constitutional Court. The Federal Court, Germany's highest for civil and criminal jurisdiction, said an arbitration agreement between her and the ISU at the time she had tested positive, which ruled out taking the case to a domestic court, was valid. "The anti-trust division of the Federal Court of Justice did not follow the argumentation of the plaintiff," it said in a statement. "It decides that her suit is inadmissible as it is opposed by the defence of the arbitration agreement." The CAS rejected her appeal as did the Swiss Federal Tribunal. However, a Munich court said in 2015 that it would allow the 44-year-old skater to go ahead with a lawsuit. The skater said she would now take the case to the next stage, the Federal Constitutional Court. "Despite this verdict I am not considering giving up," she wrote on her website. "The battle for justice will be continued at the Federal Constitutional Court." Pechstein, who missed the 2010 Vancouver Games due to the ban, competed at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, narrowly missing out on medals in the 3,000m and 5,000m. The athlete has said she wants to compete at the 2018 winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in what would be her seventh Games.

German court drops Claudia Pechstein's doping ban damages suit

doping

Doping, News on Doping, stories on Doping, articles on Doping, Doping stories at Wion, Doping news, Doping latest news