Two athletes appeal to CAS over campaigning row

BERNE - Two athletes barred from joining an International Olympic Committee (IOC) commission because of their election campaigning methods have taken their appeals to sport's highest court.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has registered an appeal from Japanese hammer thrower Koji Murofushi, bronze medallist at this year's London Olympics, requesting the IOC decision barring him from the athletes' commission be annulled.

CAS said the Japanese Olympic Committee had also appealed.

"The appellants request the annulment of the IOC Executive Board's decision and an order that Murofushi be reinstated as a candidate in the election," the Lausanne-based court said in a statement.

They also requested "an order that the votes registered for Murofushi up to the close of voting on Aug 8 be considered valid, resulting in his election to the IOC Athletes' Commission."

CAS said it had received an email from the Taiwan Olympic Committee announcing that the gold medallist in taekwondo at the 2004 Athens Games, Mu-Yen Chu, who had been excluded for the same reason, was also going to appeal.

Murofushi and Chu were excluded on charges they had campaigned inappropriately, in the wrong places and using methods that were against the rules.

The appeal process would take about four months, CAS said.

French canoeing gold medalist Tony Estanguet, Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry, Australia's former Olympic rowing champion James Tomkins and Slovakian shooter Danka Bartekova were elected following the ruling.

The IOC decided not to proceed with their inclusion to the commission during the London Games because of a possible appeal.