The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) says it has registered 42 appeals by Russian athletes seeking to overturn lifetime bans from the Olympics linked to doping violations.
The Switzerland-based court said on January 9 that the cases will be heard in the week beginning on January 22 and "it is expected" that final decision will be issued by the end of the month.
That's nine days before the February 9 opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ruled that the Russian state operated a doping program during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and banned 43 Russian athletes and some officials from the Olympics for life as a result. Bobsledder Maxim Belugin was the only athlete who did not launch an appeal against the decision.
The IOC allowed Russian athletes who have proved themselves to be drug-free to participate in the upcoming Olympics, but only as neutrals.
