“CAS must make an unambiguous decision – the innocence of Morgachev and Sorin has been proven before” – head of the FGSR

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) must make a clear decision on Russian rowers Nikita Morgachev And Pavel Sorin their innocence in the case of the use of meldonium had already been proven, Russian Rowing Federation (RFR) President Alexei Svirin told .

In 2023, the anti-doping disciplinary committee of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (DAK RUSADA) declared that Morgachev and Sorin had committed a violation of clauses 4.1 and 4.2 of the All-Russian anti-doping rules, and did not set a sanction. period of disqualification for lack of fault or negligence.

— The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed to the CAS against the decision (DAK RUSADA) not to punish Morgachev and Sorin for the meldonium found in their samples. We too, with lawyers and guys, are participating in this process. WADA had a procedural opportunity to appeal and used it. We have sent the position of our athletes to the CAS. Although RUSADA is the main defendant before WADA, our athletes are also defendants.

— Will the athletes themselves participate in the meeting?

— It’s not entirely clear yet. CAS is currently in the process of selecting arbitrators for this case.

— Do you think the CAS will side with the Russian rowers?

— It’s difficult to talk about it, especially in the current situation. This will be a pretty revealing case. DAK RUSADA’s decision was as justified and constructive as possible. If you read the documents in the file, the position of the federation and the results of our investigation, everything is extremely clear. A large number of facts could not have formed an orderly chain if Morgachev and Sorin were to blame.

Morgachev was part of the international control group for many years, was part of the Russian national team for almost 20 years and never committed an anti-doping rule violation. Sorin has a slightly shorter sporting history than Morgachev, and there have been no questions about him in terms of anti-doping either.

The situation is absurd. A month and a half before the Olympics, having licenses to participate in the Games, it was found that the guys had violated anti-doping rules. Our team then performed successfully in the qualifying competitions; there was a good climate within the team. What was the point of using meldonium in this situation? This makes no sense by any measure. The version that meldonium entered the children’s body thanks to a third party, due to unfair competition, is confirmed by a large number of facts. Everything is as clear as possible. When DAK RUSADA made a decision regarding our rowers we were encouraged, it was very positive for us. Let’s see how CAS now responds to these findings. We believe that the CAS must make an unambiguous decision: the documents prove the innocence of Morgachev and Sorin,” Svirin told .

Out-of-competition checks, carried out on June 17, 2021 during a training camp in Greece, revealed the presence of meldonium in Morgachev and Sorin. The opening of the B samples confirmed the fact that the athletes had violated anti-doping rules, after which the management of the Federal Statistics Service conducted an internal investigation, which did not reveal the fact of conscious use of doping by the rowers.

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