Russians excluded over suspicion

Geneva, Jan. 24: All Russian athletes left off the eligibility list for next month’s Winter Games had “serious indications” of doping in their history, the head of the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday.

The comments from IOC chief Thomas Bach came after three top Russian Olympians — including speed skating star Victor An — were banned from Pyeongchang 2018, despite having no publicly disclosed doping violations.

On a conference call with reporters, Bach was asked why An, along with Olympic champion biathlete Anton Shipulin and world champion skier Sergei Ustyugov, were not on a list of clean Russian athletes approved to compete in the Pyeongchang Games, which open on February 9.

Bach said that an IOC review panel tasked with producing the eligibility list took “many different sources into consideration”, including any available DNA analysis, salt analysis and the biological passports of individual athletes, in addition to previous drug tests.

“If such an athlete is not on the list then this independent panel has serious indications”, of a doping past, Bach said.

“There could be suspicion, there could be maybe even an ongoing procedure, there could be many factors which did not lead to the satisfaction of the panel,” he further said.

The IOC has banned Russia from the 2018 Games after confirming evidence of a massive state- backed doping programme that peaked during the 2014 Games in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Russians who want to compete in South Korea next month have to clear rigorous and extraordinary scrutiny by the IOC review panel. — AFP