Chief:Winter Games not tainted

PYEONGCHANG: Olympics chief Thomas Bach denied the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics had been “tainted” by the Russian doping scandal as officials voted to keep Russia’s suspension in place for the closing ceremony on Sunday.

Bach said Russia’s ban from Olympic participation will automatically be lifted if anti-doping officials do not find any more Russian drug cases at Pyeongchang, where two Russians tested positive.

Russia’s national Olympic Committee hailed Sunday’s IOC vote and said it expected its suspension to be lifted “within the next few days.”

“According to the standing order, it takes 72 hours to implement the test procedure,” a statement said.

The Russian men’s ice hockey team also sang the Russian national anthem after winning gold on Sunday, contravening guidelines over Russia’s participation as neutrals.

The Russian question has hung over Pyeongchang. The country was banned for systemic doping but 168 “clean” Russians were allowed to compete — only for a curler and a bobsledder to fail drugs tests.

But Bach said the IOC had sent a “clear message” on Russia, who competed as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” (OAR) and were unable to fly the national flag at the closing ceremony following Sunday’s vote.

“I don’t think, quite frankly, that these Olympic Winter Games have been tainted by the Russian affair because we had no Russian team here. This was a clear message,” Bach said.

The vote to keep Russia’s ban in place for the time being followed a recommendation from the IOC’s executive board, which met Saturday and early Sunday to thrash out Russia’s fate.

Bach said the positive tests from curler Alexander Krushelnitsky, and women’s bobsleigh pilot Nadezhda Sergeyeva, were the “key factor” in the decision not to immediately lift the ban.

But he added: “These are cases of negligence. There is no indication whatsoever of systemic or systematic doping here, or of any involvement of the OAR leadership or ... the Russian Olympic Committee.”

Neither Krushelnitsky or Sergeyeva contested the findings of their doping tests, but both are free to challenge any eventual suspensions from their sports. Both are provisionally suspended.

Stanislav Pozdnyakov, head of the Russian delegation, echoed Bach when he blamed “negligence rather than malicious intent” for the positive tests.

But Francesco Friedrich, a German bobsledder who won his second gold of the Games on Sunday, had little sympathy.

“It’s their own problem. They don’t have to do it,” he said, just after the IOC made its announcement. “It’s not fair for all the other guys. We fight for the medals.”