The Viktor Lebedev saga is turning into The Neverending Story.

An official media release from the Court of Arbitration for Sport lists the case as item three on the docket for the Olympics. The CAS has opened an ad hoc division and an anti-doping division in Rio to expedite the decisions on cases involving Olympic athletes.

This seemingly contradicts a release from United World Wrestling last week indicating that Lebedev will not compete and Russia's 57kg quota has been pulled.

After the IOC made their declaration regarding Russian sports as a whole, they passed the decision down to each sport's individual governing body, except in the case of athletes who have prior failed PED tests on record. This is what ruled Lebedev out initially.




The UWW release then seemed to intimate that the entry roster provided to them by the Russian Wrestling Federation would be reviewed by the CAS to determine final eligibility. But there have no been no official media releases from CAS specifically regarding the 16 Russian wrestlers.

Additionally, an AP report confirmed that the IOC has changed their mind and set up a three-person panel to make the "final" decision on all Russian Olympians. This panel has the unenviable task of reviewing the rulings each sport's governing body gave to the CAS.