LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- An arbitration panel threw out a rule that barred athletes whose drug-related suspension of more than six months has expired from Olympics participation.
The international Court of Arbitration for Sport in Thursday handed down a decision that wiped out an International Olympic Committee rule regarding athletes and already-served suspensions regarding anti-doping violations.
The IOC in June 2008 established the so-called Osaka Rule that banned athletes who had served a suspension of more than six months from the following Olympic Games.
The CAS, however, said such a measure is "invalid and unenforceable."
CAS members said the Osaka Rule was "more properly characterized as a disciplinary sanction rather than a pure condition of eligibility ion the Olympic Games." The panel added that such a sanction is in violation of a World Anti-Doping Code article, which doesn't allow for the changing of period of ineligibility.
The IOC and the U.S. Olympics Committee had asked CAS to rule on the Osaka Rule to clear eligibility questions that may arise ahead of the 2012 Olympics in London.
