More Russians banned from Olympics for doping in Sochi
GENEVA — As four more Russians were disqualified Friday for doping at the Sochi Olympics, IOC President Thomas Bach signalled a possible shift toward barring the country’s athletes from the Pyeongchang Games.
Two-time bobsled gold medallist Alexander Zubkov, who carried the Russian flag at the opening ceremony in Sochi, was removed from the 2014 records in the latest round of verdicts from an International Olympic Committee panel prosecuting individuals caught in a program to cover up doping and tamper with tainted samples. Now the president of the Russian bobsled federation, Zubkov was disqualified and banned for life from the Olympics along with speedskater Olga Fatkulina, who won silver in the 500 metres.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Zubkov told The Associated Press, saying he plans to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and has no intention of stepping down.
“I was working toward those medals for years. All my achievements, all my victories have always been and remain clean,” Zubkov said in a telephone interview. “Sport has turned into politics.”
Russia originally topped the medals table in Sochi, but the latest cases drop it to nine gold medals, fewer than Norway and Canada. In total medals, Russia now has 24, behind the United States, Norway and Canada.
A total of 14 Russians have now been disqualified this month, with nine medals lost.
Zubkov said the ruling was the work of “a commission which makes decisions without any basis or proof.”
Hours earlier, Bach — highlighting that Olympic medallists were involved in attacking the integrity of the games — told critics not to put pressure on his executive board before a key decision next month on the country’s participation at the upcoming Pyeongchang Games. Bach will chair an IOC board meeting on Dec. 5 which could ban Russia’s team from Pyeongchang.