Breaking: IOC bans Russia from 2018 Winter Olympics over state-sponsored doping scandal

Russia has been banned from competing at next year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)

 

The IOC president, Thomas Bach and his board made the announcement on Tuesday following the findings and recommendations of a 17-month investigation headed up by the former president of Switzerland, Samuel Schmid. Schmid and his committee were commisioned by the IOC to look into allegations of state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics hosted by Russia in Sochi.

The ban, however, excludes individual Russian athletes who can prove they are clean and thus can compete under a neutral flag in in South Korea next year.

“This should draw a line under this damaging episode,” the IOC says.

Despite repeated Russian denials, the Schmid report has found evidence of “the systemic manipulation of the anti-doping rules and system” which back up previous allegations of government involvement in cheating in the run-up to and during the Winter Olympics almost four years ago.

Bach says: “This was an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport. This should draw a line under this damaging episode and serve as a catalyst for a more effective anti-doping system.”

This entire investigation was instigated by whisteblowing doctor Grigory Rodchenkov, who was director of Russia’s anti-doping laboratory during Sochi 2014.

He alleged the country ran a systematic programme of doping and claimed he had created substances to enhance athletes’ performances and switched urine samples to avoid detection.

The World Anti Doping Agency (Wada) enlisted the services of Canadian law professor and sports lawyer Dr Richard McLaren to look into the allegations.

The McLaren report concluded 1,000 athletes across 30 sports benefitted from the doping programme between 2012 and 2015.

Wada obtained what it said was a Russian laboratory database which it felt corroborated McLaren’s conclusions, while re-testing of Russian athletes’ samples resulted in a host of retrospective bans and stripping of medals.

Last week, another IOC commission, led by Swiss lawyer Denis Oswald, gave its full backing to evidence provided by Dr Rodchenkov.

 

Other decisions:

No accreditation for any official from the Russian ministry of sport for the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018Former Deputy sports minister, Yuri Nagornykh, is excluded from any participation in all future Olympic GamesDmitry Chernyshenko, the former CEO of the organising committee Sochi 2014, is withdrawn from the Coordination Commission Beijing 2022

ROC President Alexander Zhukov is suspended as an IOC member, given that his membership is linked to his position as ROC president

The ROC is fined 15 million dollars to reimburse the costs of the investigations and to contribute to the establishment of the Independent Testing Authority (ITA)

A total of 25 Russians have so far been banned from the Olympics for life on the recommendation of the IOC commission

 

Russian’s reaction to the ban

Russian politicians and athletes were united in their condemnation of the IOC decision, the BBC reports.

The deputy chairman of Russian parliament’s defence committee, Frants Klintsevich, said Russian athletes should not take part in the Olympics in 2018 if they are not allowed to compete under the national flag.

“I don’t know what Russia’s decision will be in the end, but in my view, a great power can’t go ‘incognito’ to the Olympics,” state-owned RIA Novosti news agency reported him saying.

Igor Morozov, another politician said “hybrid war” had been declared on Russia by the IOC decision.

The head of Russia’s speed-skating body Alexei Kravtsov said it should be down to the athletes themselves.

“My opinion is that every athlete should decide for themselves whether to take part under a neutral flag or not,” R-Sport reports. “But there is an admittance procedure, and that in itself is humiliating.”

Russian bobsleigh federation president Alexander Zubkov said on Tuesday he was “shocked” by the decision.

Zubkov was stripped last month of the two gold medals he won at the 2014 Sochi Games and banned from the Olympics for life over alleged doping violations.

Russian state broadcaster VGTRK has said it will not broadcast the winter Olympic games if the Russian team is not participating.

 

For more on this report, visit the BBC website.