Russia Loses Appeal Against IOC Ban 

The IOC banned the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in October for recognizing regional Olympic councils for Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. (AP)
The IOC banned the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in October for recognizing regional Olympic councils for Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. (AP)
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Russia Loses Appeal Against IOC Ban 

The IOC banned the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in October for recognizing regional Olympic councils for Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. (AP)
The IOC banned the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in October for recognizing regional Olympic councils for Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. (AP)

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Friday it has dismissed an appeal from Russia against an International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspension for recognizing regional organizations from territories annexed from Ukraine.

The IOC banned the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in October for recognizing regional Olympic councils for Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

At the time, the IOC said the move constituted a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violated the territorial integrity of Ukraine's NOC.

Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which Moscow calls a “special operation”, has denounced the measure as politically motivated.

In its appeal at the Lausanne-based CAS, ROC asked for the ban to be revoked and that it be recognized as a fully-fledged NOC, with all the prerogatives the status entails.

“The CAS Panel in charge of this matter dismissed the appeal and confirmed the challenged decision, finding that the IOC EB (Executive Board) did not breach the principles of legality, equality, predictability or proportionality,” CAS said in a statement.

Russians and Belarusian athletes had initially been banned from competing internationally following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, for which Belarus has been used as a staging ground.

Last year, however, the IOC issued an initial set of recommendations for international sports governing bodies to allow Russians and Belarusians to return, competing as individual athletes with no flag, emblem or anthem.

The IOC has said athletes should not be punished for the actions of governments.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.