Russia stance will be defended in court, pledges World Athletics chief Coe

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 current restrictions infringe on the organisation’s rights and prevent it from fully representing the interests of Russian athletes on an international level,” it said.

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.

“We made it clear that we wanted to ensure all athletes have the possibility to compete at the Olympic Games and not be held responsible for their government’s actions,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry said.

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.

“Well, I will be in the court of arbitration defending that position. That’s how I feel about it,” Coe said.

“We will as a sport continue to do what we think is in the best interests of our sport.

“The primacy of an international federation to determine what eligibility looks like in your sport is the base of the pyramid.

“When we have been to the court before on previous occasions, that concept has been upheld.”

Coe said World Athletics’ stance was not political.

“This is not about politics or passports. 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.

“So, sorry, it’s not something I could ever really be neutral about,” he told the AFP news agency in an interview last year.