BUDAPEST: World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said on Sunday that the governing body’s position on the exclusion of Russian athletes had not changed ahead of an upcoming Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) case, while acknowledging the need for a resolution.
Russian Athletics last month filed a fresh appeal with CAS challenging sanctions imposed by World Athletics, which has barred Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competition since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
‘Our position hasn’t changed, and this isn’t about politics or passports. It’s about the integrity of competition,’ Coe told reporters on the final day of the inaugural Ultimate Championship in Budapest.
‘From the age of 18, I believe that every position I’ve taken... it’s about integrity and it’s about competition, and that matters to me.
Coe declined to discuss the federation’s legal strategy ahead of the arbitration proceedings but said World Athletics would continue to defend its stance.
‘So our position won’t change,’ he said. ‘And look, yes, this does need to be resolved, and I’m acutely aware of that. [But] I don’t think our legal teams would be particularly thankful if I laid out our approach on this.
The comments came a month after Russian Athletics confirmed a new CAS filing, following an initial filing in July, aimed at overturning sanctions it says prevent it from fully representing Russian athletes internationally and participating in World Athletics decision-making processes.
Despite reaffirming the federation’s position, Coe said he recognised the importance of ultimately restoring full global participation in the sport.
‘It is important,’ he said. ‘We want a full complement of people on a global level competing in our sport, and that has to be our overall objective.
Of course, it does.
Meanwhile, Russian athletes have appealed to international sporting and human rights bodies to help end World Athletics’ ban on Russian competitors, arguing that more than four years of exclusion has deprived a generation of athletes of their careers.
In an open letter dated Sept 10, seen by Reuters and addressed to the International Olympic Commitree (IOC) Athletes’ Commission, the IOC Advisory Committee on Human Rights and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the athletes said the continued ban was having a devastating impact.
‘For us, this is not an abstract legal or political issue. Athletics is our life,’ the letter said. ‘Four years is a long time in any life. In an athlete’s life, it can be the most significant years.’-Reuters