Russian Skiers' Lawyer Suing Russian Olympic Committee

The lawyer of Larisa Lazutina and Olga Danilova, Anatoly Kucherena, brings accusations against the Russian Olympic Committee in connection with the scandal at the White Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

The lawyer spoke on Tuesday's presentation of the book "This will take some blood..." describing one of the most dramatic scandals in the big-time sports which began with disqualification of Russian skiers, Larisa Lazutina and Olga Danilova, at the White Olympic Games-2002 in Salt Lake City.

The doping scandal at the winter Olympics 2002 in the USA "is a pure provocation from the International Olympic Committee with involvement of the Russian Olympic Committee," Kucherena stated.

The Russian skiers' lawyer is convinced that Lazutina and Danilova did not take any forbidden medications either before or during the Olympics. "If they had not won any medals in Salt Lake City there would have been no scandal," Kucherena stated.

He believes the Russian skiers' case will see the development after the date for trying their appeal by the sport arbitration in the Swiss Federal court is announced.

"If we do not obtain justice there, we will send our appeal to the European court for human rights," Kucherena said.

The Russian Olympic Committee, in its turn, expressed its bewilderment about Kucherena's latest statements. Head of the Russian Olympic Committee's legal department Alexandra Brilliantova said that the Committee was a member of the Olympic movement and followed the Olympic charter along with other national Olympic committees. "Accordingly, the International Sport Arbitration Court in Lausanne is the last instance for the Russian committee to turn to, while this court's decision cannot be subject to appeal," Brilliantova stressed.

Last November the International Sport Arbitration Court considered the Russian skiers' appeal against the decision of the International Olympic Committee and the International Skiing Association on disqualification and did not decide in the skiers' favour, with the decision on their one-year disqualification remaining in force.