The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has opened two temporary offices in Paris for the Olympic Games, whose opening ceremony will take place next Friday, 26 July at 19:30 local time.

The first office, the CAS Ad Hoc Division, will resolve any disputes that may arise during the Olympic Games. This temporary tribunal has been in operation at every Summer and Winter Olympic Games since Atlanta in 1996, as well as at other major sporting events.

The main function of the Ad Hoc Division, which was created solely to provide rapid justice during extraordinary events (such as the Olympic Games, held every four years, where 10,500 athletes compete simultaneously and may need this service), is to guarantee free access to high-quality dispute resolution services. 

These services are provided within a timeframe that coincides with the competition schedule, as the division can issue decisions within 24 hours in urgent cases.

The second temporary office is for the CAS Anti-Doping Division, which will deal with doping disputes that may arise during the Olympic Games. This structure was created for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and will become a permanent division from 2019. It will handle all doping cases referred by the International Testing Authority (ITA) in accordance with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) anti-doping rules.