Twenty-two Russian athletes banned for life by the International Olympic Committee for doping offenses at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics are appealing against their ban, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Wednesday.
Their appeal comes a day after the IOC banned Russia from next year’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, allowing only invited clean athletes to participate as neutrals.
The court in Lausanne said the athletes had asked CAS to rule before the start of the Feb. 9-25 Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea.
Among those appealing are gold medalist bobsledders Aleksandr Zubkov and Dmitry Trunenkov, cross-country gold medalist Alexander Legkov and champion skeleton racer Aleksander Tretiakov.
The IOC found the athletes violated anti-doping rules as part of a wider, systematic doping effort by Russia at the Sochi Games. It barred them from the events they had competed in, confiscated all medals they had won and banned them from taking part in any future Olympic games.
Russian Athletes Appeal To CAS Against IOC Doping Bans
