On 1 February 2018, five days before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (‘CAS’) was facing heavy scrutiny from its critics. On that day, it was announced that the CAS Panel had decided to cancel the sanctions imposed by the International Olympic Committee (‘IOC’) Disciplinary Commission on 28 Russian athletes (out of 39 appeals decided by the CAS) resulting from the Sochi doping scandal. As a result, 28 Russian athletes were cleared to compete and were not facing any disciplinary consequences further to the alleged doping practices revealed by the McLaren Report. IOC President Thomas Bach was bitterly against the decision issued by the CAS and called for an urgent need to “reform” the CAS; IOC and ICAS member Dick Pound described the CAS decision not to sanction the 28 Russian athletes as “perverse.” At that time, such comments were made without knowing the grounds for the award, which were finally issued on 23 April 2018. In this article Claude Ramoni, Partner at Libra Law, explores some explanations on why the CAS came to the opposite conclusion to the IOC in the matter of those 28 Russian athletes. / read more

The International Olympic Committee (‘IOC’) announced on 5 December 2017 the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (‘ROC’) following the issuance of the Schmid IOC Disciplinary Commission Report, which sought to establish the facts relating to the allegations of state-sponsored doping during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi detailed in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Independent Person Report, preventing Russia from competing as a nation in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. According to the IOC’s decision individual Russian athletes will have the opportunity to be invited to participate in Pyeongchang 2018 under strict conditions. The IOC’s decision to suspend the ROC with immediate effect, and which will also see the ROC made to reimburse the costs incurred by the IOC in the investigation and to contribute to the establishment of the Independent Testing Authority to the sum of $15 million, “should draw a line under this damaging episode and serve as a catalyst for a more effective anti-doping system,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. / read more

Coming just a few weeks after what many believe to be the pinnacle of sporting achievement, the Paralympic Games has often been viewed as the smaller, less exciting, cousin that follows the main event. This issue was highlighted when with only a few weeks before the opening ceremony The Guardian reported that only 12% of tickets had been sold. In addition to this there were signs that the Rio 2016 Organising Committee had a severe funding shortfall that was leading to the delay of travel grants awarded to competing nations. Local media reported that Paralympic funding had been diverted to the Olympics. Against this backdrop, Fraser Reid and Daniel Alfreds of Couchmans LLP, explore what the future holds for the commercial sponsorship programme of the International Paralympic Committee (‘IPC’) and what can be done to ensure that it remains attractive to sponsors and capable of growing its monetary base, in an increasingly competitive sponsorship landscape. / read more

With the Rio Olympic Games 2016 set to begin on 6 August 2016, 11 procedures have already been filed between 26 July 2016 and 1 August 2016 to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (‘CAS’), many of which seek to overturn bans against participation in the Olympic Games by Russian athletes. These particular procedures follow decisions by each of the 28 sports federations, who were asked by the International Olympic Committee to determine as to whether athletes from Russia could compete in their respective events. The CAS opened two temporary divisions in Rio on 26 July 2016: an Anti-Doping Division and an ad hoc Division, to which doping cases can be appealed. These temporary divisions will close on 21 August 2016. / read more

During the London 2012 Olympic games, athletes raised serious concerns about the way the International Olympic Committee (‘IOC’) managed commercial marketing and restricted athletes’ possibilities to exploit their image rights in the context of the games. The #WeDemandChange campaign uncovered stringent regulations that protected official sponsors and reduced the athlete’s possibilities to capitalise on the Olympic opportunity. Alessandro Oliverio, Chair of the Sports Law Practice, and Chistopher M. Delp, Of Counsel, at OLF Law Firm, review the new guidelines from the IOC to address these concerns and pose new questions concerning potential prejudices contained within the new set of rules. / read more

Like the majority of other major international sporting events in recent years, the XX Commonwealth Games, which took place in Glasgow and Scotland from 23 July to 3 August 2014, brought with them specific regulation which governed what business could and could not do in relation to the Games. A year after the event, Jamie Watt, Partner at Harper Macleod LLP, discusses the regulation surrounding the Games, which through a combination of bespoke legislation, community engagement, and close working across advisors, saw the Organising Committee, and other relevant parties, successfully protect the Games from a major brand incident. / read more

An Anti-Corruption Tribunal, convened by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to investigate allegations of match-fixing in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) during 2013, has accused the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) of allowing fixed games to go ahead. It also alleges that the ACSU breached a Services Agreement with the BCB by failing to inform them about an attempt to fix a game, and failed to consider whether the approach might constitute a breach of local laws necessitating involvement of local law enforcement authorities. / read more

Snooker’s world number five, Stephen Lee, has been suspended for 12 years for involvement in fixing seven snooker games, the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association (WPBSA) announced on 25 September. Lee was sanctioned under Rule 12.1(a) of the WPBSA’s Disciplinary Rules and will serve his suspension from 12 October 2012, when his interim suspension was imposed. ‘Mr Lee has indicated his intention to appeal against the finding of guilt’, reads the sanction notice. / read more

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has made a number of recommendations regarding the Olympic Games anti-doping programme, through its Report of the Independent Observers on the London 2012 Olympics, released 25 September. / read more

The Olympic Games should be a unifying event, where people from many countries meet and become friends - despite competing against each other in sports events. The fact that five EU Member States have not yet recognised Europe's youngest country and that Kosovo still, four years after independence, is not yet a fully fledged member of the United Nations (90 States have recognised Kosovo, less than the 50% of UN Member States required for membership) is annoying for Kosovar athletes and for those in Kosovo who like sports, and beyond. / read more

The British Olympic Association (BOA) informed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on 17 May that it has scrapped its lifetime ban for athletes caught doping, however has proposed banning such athletes from the Olympics. / read more