Court of Arbitration Refuses To Lift Olympic Ban On Russian Weightlifters

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected an appeal by all eight of Russia's Olympic weightlifting team against their doping ban.

In an August 3 ruling, the court stood behind a ban on all eight Russian weightlifters that was imposed on July 29 by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).

The court said the IWF decision was "valid and proportionate."

The IWF had said on July 29 that it made its ruling because "extremely shocking" results on doping tests for Russian weightlifters had brought the sport into “disrepute.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ordered all individual sports federations to apply strict criteria to Russian athletes in order to determine whether they should be allowed to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after the World Anti-Doping Agency revealed evidence of a state-supported Russian doping program.

On July 30, the IOC also created a panelthathas the final decision on whether individual Russian athletes will be banned from competing in Rio.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP