Media release: Court of Arbitration for Sport will open two offices in Milan for Winter Olympics

Media release – Court of Arbitration for Sport – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will open two temporary offices for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. The CAS Ad hoc Division and the CAS Anti-Doping Division will work in Milan to settle sports-related disputes for the Games and decide on anti-doping cases.

CAS first opened a temporary tribunal for the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. Known as the CAS Ad hoc Division, it has tailored and simplified rules to resolve legal disputes in an expedited timeframe, sometimes less than 24 hours after a case is filed. Athletes and sporting federations are guaranteed free access to quality dispute resolution services that are compatible with the Olympic competition schedule.

The CAS Anti-Doping Division (CAS ADD) is responsible for adjudicating anti-doping-related matters during the Games. It decides whether a doping offence has been committed and if a sanction shall be imposed. Cases are referred to the CAS ADD by the International Testing Agency (ITA) and decided in accordance with the anti-doping rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The CAS ADD first opened for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics and became a permanent structure at CAS in 2019.

Matthieu Reeb, Director General, said, “CAS is proud to have been providing a fundamental service at every Olympic Games for the past 30 years. The special squad of CAS arbitrators and staff in Milan is ready to deal with urgent legal disputes, if any, and to deliver decisions in a timeframe that’s compatible with the tight Olympic schedule.”

The offices of the CAS Ad hoc Division and CAS ADD are located at:

The opening times for both offices are 8:30 – 18:00.

The CAS Ad hoc Division will be composed as follows:

President: Mr Michael Lenard OLY, USA
Co-President: Ms Corinne Schmidhauser OLY, Switzerland

Arbitrators present in Milan (in alphabetical order):

· Mr James Drake, Australia/United Kingdom
· Dr Isabelle Fellrath, Switzerland
· Prof. Luigi Fumagalli, Italy
· Prof. Joongi Kim, Korea
· Ms Annett Rombach, Germany
· Ms Marianne Saroli, Canada

Available remotely: Prof. Stefano Bastianon, Italy; Mr André Brantjes, the Netherlands; Mr Jordi Lopez, Spain

Anti-Doping Division:

The Anti-Doping Division will be composed as follows:

President: Mr Ivo Eusebio, Switzerland
Deputy President: Mr David W. Rivkin, USA

Arbitrators present in Milan (in alphabetical order):

· Prof. Maria Beatrice Deli, Italy
· Mr Markus Manninen, Finland

Available remotely: Ms Susan Ahern, Ireland; Mr Pekka Ilmivalta, Finland

The Division Presidents and arbitrators selected to participate in these special CAS structures are all experienced lawyers, judges or professors specialized in sports law, anti-doping regulations and/or arbitration.

The procedural rules for the Ad hoc division can be found here on the CAS website. The procedural rules for the CAS ADD can be found here on the CAS website.

A Pro Bono legal advice and representation service is available to athletes who need any legal advice in case of a dispute related to the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. The Milan Bar Association provides the service.