IOC BANS RUSSIA FROM 2018 WINTER OLYMPICS

THE RUSSIAN Olympic Committee has been banned from next year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for its part in a state-sponsored doping programme at the Sochi Games in 2014.

However Russian athletes were thrown a lifeline by the IOC, who have decided they can compete in a uniform bearing the name “Olympic Athlete from Russia” provided they can prove they were not involved in a state-sponsored doping programme.

The Olympic Anthem will be played in any ceremony.

The IOC also said in a statement it had decided not to accredit any official from the Russian Ministry of Sport for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

The IOC’s decision was announced on Tuesday evening by its president, Thomas Bach, after the 14-person executive committee spent the afternoon poring over the final report of the Schmid commission, which has been examining for the past 15 months whether there was an “institutional conspiracy” by Russian officials within the ministry of sport to corrupt the London 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

This report also addressed, in particular, the manipulation at the anti-doping laboratory at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 which targeted the Olympic Games directly.

Over 17 months of extensive work, the Schmid Commission gathered evidence and information and held hearings with all the main actors.

This opportunity was not available to the IOC prior to the Olympic Games Rio 2016. –