The Court of Arbitration for Sport have opened their temporary court in Rio ©Getty Images

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have opened their two temporary sites in Rio de Janeiro, with the body taking charge of doping-related matters in the first instance at the Olympic Games for the first time.

Doping cases were previously heard first by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but CAS will now take charge from the start of proceedings.

The CAS Anti-Doping Division will adjudicate on potential doping cases after hearing from the parties concerned, in line with the IOC’s anti-doping rules.

France’s Carole Malinvaud will preside for CAS, with Switzerland’s Judge Ivo Eusebio serving as the deputy President.

Chile’s Juan Pablo Arriagada Aljaro, Israel’s Efraim Barak, Britain’s Michael Beloff, Canada’s Hugh Fraser, Austria’s Michael Geistlinger and Tricia Kavanagh of Australia have been appointed as arbitrators.

The division will be able to impose provisional suspensions pending the conclusion of procedures, with final decisions allowed to be appealed before the CAS ad-hoc division in Rio or at CAS in Lausanne following the Games.

All of those appointed have been selected by the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS), an independent body under the aegis of which the CAS operates, and every region of the world has been considered.

In addition, the selected arbitrators are all either lawyers, judges or professors who have specialised in sports law and arbitration.

They are said to be independent of the parties who appear before the tribunal.

The temporary court in Rio will allow legal disputes arising on the occasion of the Games to be resolved ©Getty Images
The temporary court in Rio will allow legal disputes arising on the occasion of the Games to be resolved ©Getty Images

American Michael Lenard is due to preside over the CAS ad-hoc division and will be assisted by Brazil’s Justice Ellen Gracie Northfleet, while an equal number of male and female arbitrators will also serve.

The women are Australian Annabelle Bennett, Canadian/Slovakian Andrea Carska-Sheppard, Papua New Guinea's Catherine Davani, Costa Rica's Margarita Echeverria, Carol Roberts of Canada and South Korean Jinwon Park.

Meanwhile, the male arbitrators are Germany's Ulrich Haas, Britain's Mark Hovell, Francisco Mussnich of Brazil, Spain's José Juan Pinto, Mohamed Abdel Raouf of Egypt and Rabab Yasseen of Iraq/Switzerland.

The CAS ad-hoc division, a special tribunal, has operated at each Summer and Winter Olympics since Atlanta 1996, as well as at other major sporting events including the Commonwealth Games, the FIFA World Cup and the Asian Games.

It has been established to resolve legal disputes arising on the occasion of the Games, including qualification, disciplinary and doping, with cases heard within a time-frame consistent with the Olympic competition schedule.

At London 2012, the CAS ad hoc Division in London handled 11 cases.

Last year, the CAS registered 503 procedures and during the first half of 2016 has currently registered 310 cases.