IOC rejects 15 Russians whose bans were lifted

Committee says new evidence raises more suspicions.

PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA— The International Olympic Committee rejected a request Monday to invite 15 Russians to the Pyeongchang Winter Games just days after the athletes’ dop- ing bans were overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The 13 active athletes and two retired athletes working in support roles were among 28 athletes whose bans were overturned by CAS on Thursday. The ban on 11 other Russians was upheld.

Russia Prime Minister Dmi- try Medvedev denounced the IOC move as “shameful.”

“This decision is unfair, unlawful, amoral and polit- ically charged,” Medvedev said on Facebook.

The IOC said as-yet unpub- lished new evidence — not examined in the CAS process — gave rise to new doping suspicions about the 15 Russians. The Kremlin argued the CAS decision meant the 15 should be treated as clean.

“We expected that the CAS decision would dispel all suspicions against the athletes,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “We’re convinced that the CAS ruling has proved that such suspicions had no grounds.”

In a statement on Monday, the IOC said part of its ruling was because “the full reasoning for these decisions had not been made public” by CAS. “The decision of the CAS had not lifted the suspicion of doping, or given the panel sufficient confidence to recommend ... those 13 athletes could be considered as clean.”

The IOC said the two coaches “should not be considered for an invitation” because of previous evidence available to the IOC. The IOC added it had “additional ele- ments and/or evidence” that included “traces of prohib- ited substances and evidence of steroid profile manipula- tion.” It said this raised ques- tions about the “integrity of these athletes.”

Medvedev, meanwhile, argued that the decision “has little in common with sports, its goal is to do political dam- age to Russia.”

The IOC did not name the athletes, but Russian officials have said they include two gold-medal winners from the 2014 Sochi Olympics — cross-country skier Alexander Legkov and skeleton racer Alexander Tretiakov. They join dozens of other Russians who haven’t been convicted of any dop- ing offenses but failed to pass the IOC vetting for an invitation.

The ruling by the sports court was a blow to the IOC and has shifted some of the focus away from Friday’s opening of the games in frigid South Korea with about 3,000 athletes participating. Speaking at the Olympic vil- lage, IOC President Thomas Bach repeated his disquiet over the CAS ruling.

“We are extremely disappointed with this CAS decision,” Bach said. “We will clearly review it. If we can appeal it, we will appeal it.”

The Lausanne-based IOC could file that appeal with Switzerland’s supreme court.