The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced Wednesday that a Canadian judge has dismissed a lawsuit by three Russian team pursuit athletes who were barred from participating in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics for their alleged involvement in a state-sponsored Russian doping scheme.

Dmitry Sokolov, Kirill Sveshnikov, and Dmitry Strakhov were named in the McLaren report, which investigated evidence that the Moscow Anti-Doping Institute had switched samples and falsified results from numerous Russian athletes to cover up doping protested their exclusion from the competition after they had been

The three were accused of using EPO, which they denied. After losing an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the trio sued WADA and the author of the independent report, Canadian Professor Richard H. McLaren, for denying them "a fair chance to present our explanation."

WADA and McLaren succeeded in having the Toronto court dismiss the suit, ruling that the matter should be resolved in the Court of Arbitration for Sport and that the suit in Ontario was an abuse of process.

Justice Fayeta found that asking national courts to resolve disputes governed by the provisions of the Olympic Charter would undermine the Olympic Movement.

WADA Director General Olivier Niggli welcomed the news of the dismissal. This ruling rightfully precludes any attempt to re-litigate the issue through domestic petitions."

McLaren agreed that CAS is the right place to make a ruling, stating that the investigation was "thorough and professional and our findings are beyond doubt. He added, "CAS is an independent body established to resolve sports-related disputes. The plaintiffs' claims were always to be resolved there. It is not a state court system."

The CAS is not a state court system.

According to a WADA press release, the three cyclists now owe legal fees to WADA and McLaren, and the appeal period has ended.

This may be unwelcome news for Strahov, who is currently under quarantine for coronavirus in a UAE hospital.