IOC bans two Russians for life

The International Olympic Committee sanctioned two Russian crosscountry skiers as a result of its commission looking into individual doping violations during the Sochi Olympics. Sochi gold medalist Alexander Leg

kov and Evgeniy Belov had their results disqualified and are banned from competing in future Games. Their cases are the first to be decided by the Oswald Commission, a group led by

Denis Oswald that has been tasked since July 2016 with looking at individual cases of doping that were part of a state-run system. The Oswald Commission re-analyzed all samples from Russian athletes who competed in Sochi. Legkov won gold in the 50-kilometer event in Sochi and claimed silver in the 4x10-kilometer event. Belov finished 18th and 25th in his two events.