The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday, opened proceedings into the exclusion of all Russian track-and-field athletes from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“A final decision will be reached by July 21 at the latest,’’ the CAS said in a press state.
Sixty-eight Russian athletes and the Russian National Olympic Committee have turned to the CAS as a court of last instance in an attempt to overturn the Olympic ban handed out by the IAAF, the sport’s international ruling body.
The IAAF excluded Russian athletes from international competition as of Nov. 15, 2015 after it found that a comprehensive, state-sanctioned doping programme was being implemented in Russia.
The ruling body reiterated on June 17 that the band would apply to the Olympics in Rio.