Russia's appeal for track and field athletes in Rio rejected
LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Russia has lost its appeal against the ban on its track and field athletes from competing in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected the appeal by 68 Russian track and field athletes seeking to overturn the ban imposed by the IAAF following allegations of state-sponsored doping and cover-ups.
The Russian appeal was heard by a CAS panel on Tuesday.
The appeal questioned the validity of the IAAF decision and sought to ensure the participation in Rio of athletes who are not accused of any doping violation.
The ruling could influence whether the entire Russian Olympic team is banned from the games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) delayed a decision on that possible blanket ban earlier this week, saying it needed more time to consider its legal options.
CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reported that, while the IOC has generally shied away from complete bans on nations competing in the past, it has come under huge pressure by other nations to ban Russia due to the wide scale of the state-sponsored doping program first revealed by The New York Times and CBS News' own "60 Minutes."
Two whistle-blowers -- a former Russian gold medal-winning track star and her husband, who worked at the country's anti-doping lab -- detailed for "60 Minutes" the system under which steroids were provided, and tainted urine samples were swapped for clean ones.
It remains unclear how long IOC officials will deliberate on Russia's overall participation in the Olympics, but the rejection of the appeal Thursday means its track and field athletes will not compete.