London, England – The Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected an appeal of the decision to cut short the semifinal matches of the women's Elliott 6m match racing sailing competition.
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) filed the application Saturday morning, prior to the bronze and gold medal matches of the event.
On Friday, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) decided to cancel races No. 4 and 5 of the semifinal matches, which pitted Russia against Spain and Finland against Australia.
The semifinals were scheduled to include five races and were set to begin Thursday. However, light winds forced officials to bump it back a day, and a lack of wind Friday prompted the ISAF to end the semifinals.
The teams had gotten through only three races each, and with Spain and Australia leading at the time, they were declared the winners to advance to the final.
The ROC requested the annulment of the ISAF's decision to cancel the races and declare Spain the winner of that semifinal. Russia also requested that the CAS oblige the ISAF to conduct the remaining semifinal races Saturday.
But Canada's Graeme Mew, the sole arbitrator of the case, dismissed the appeal.
Russia lost to Finland in the competition for bronze.
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