A decision on whether 47 Russian athletes and coaches can take part in the Winter Olympics may not be made until Friday – the day the Games start.
The Russians believe they have been wrongfully excluded from Pyeongchang by the International Olympic Committee.
They include the 28 athletes who had their life bans lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) last week.
A Cas panel started hearing the appeals on Wednesday but they have been adjourned until Thursday.
“The panel’s decisions are expected to be announced either late in the evening of 8 February 2018 or in the morning of 9 February 2018,” Cas said.
The Winter Olympics run from 9 to 25 February in South Korea – although some events start on 8 February, the day before the opening ceremony.
What are they appealing against?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) invited 169 Russians to compete as independent athletes in Pyeongchang after their country was banned from the Games.
That ban followed an investigation into state-sponsored Russian doping at their home Games in Sochi in 2014.
The IOC also banned 43 Russians for life from the Olympics following a further inquiry.
But last week, Cas overturned 28 athletes’ suspensions and partially upheld 11 other appeals.
Thirteen of those 28 – and two coaches – then asked to be allowed to compete in Pyeongchang but were turned down by the IOC.
A special IOC panel “agreed the decision of the Cas had not lifted the suspicion of doping”.
IOC president Thomas Bach said: “The absence of sanctions by Cas does not mean that you are entitled to receive an invitation from the IOC because receiving this invitation is a privilege of clean Russian athletes.”
However, the athletes and some coaches excluded from the Games are taking issue with that stance, and have returned to Cas for help.
Thirty-two athletes took their appeals to Cas on Tuesday and were joined by a further 15 athletes and coaches on Wednesday.
Among them are multiple Olympic champion speed skater Viktor Ahn and biathlon gold medallist Anton Shipulin. Neither athlete has previously served a doping ban.
Their appeal hearings, which started on Wednesday, will continue on Thursday, Cas said.
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Source: BBC
