Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners provides legal support to athletes and NOC at Sochi Winter Olympics 2014

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners have been chosen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to participate in the Pro bono Lawyers Program for Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games Program.

The firm’s team based in Sochi consisted of partner Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi, head of Sports Law Practice in Ukraine, Georgy Sur, head of Sports Law practice in Russia, and Kyiv-based associate, Oleksandr Volkov. They were engaged with the purpose of helping the participants of the Olympic Games in Sochi resolve any legal disputes that may arise during the Games, and represent them before the ad hoc division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). 

The CAS ad hoc Division for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi was established to facilitate a quick resolution of disputes that arise during or in connection with the Games. Normally, the decisions in such disputes are issued by the arbitrators sitting at the site of the Games within 24 hours from the moment an application is filed. This means that legal counsel appearing before CAS are required to prepare the case – gather evidence and draft pleadings – within an extremely limited timeframe.

Based in Sochi since the end of January Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi represented the interests of an Argentinean freestyle skier Clyde Getty who maintained that he was eligible to compete in the Sochi 2014 Olympics, which was questioned when the decision of the International Skiing Federation to allocate a quota place to the NOC of Argentina was withdrawn.

Markiyan also acted on behalf of an Argentinean alpine skier Maria Belen Simari Birkner, who requested the CAS to order the Argentinean NOC to enter her in the Olympic Winter Games in the Alpine Skiing events of Slalom, Super G and Giant Slalom, after she was refused entry in an arbitrary and discriminatory fashion.

Georgy Sur and Oleksandr Volkov also joined the firm’s legal team in Sochi. Georgy provided a stand-by assistance to the CAS pro bono panel and monitored the athletic events for potential protests. He is currently advising the IOC on matters not directly related to the Olympic Games.

Overall, Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners handled two out of four cases heard by the CAS ad hoc Division for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.