IOC bans four athletes for life, strips them of Olympic medals News

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IOC bans four athletes for life, strips them of Olympic medals

By Daily Sports on November 25, 2017

Four Russian athletes have been stripped of two golds and a silver from the 2014 Winter Olympics and subsequently banned for life from any future Olympics after doping violations.

Sochi 2014 silver medallist Olga Fatkulina and Alexander Rumyantsev, both speed skaters, and bobsledder Olga Stulneva have had their results voided.

All four were investigated following last year's publication of the McLaren Report, which detailed a state-sponsored doping programme in Russia.

The ruling will promote Great Britain from fifth to fourth in the four-man bobsleigh, and GB could be awarded a bronze medal if an ongoing investigation into a second Russian team, who finished fourth, finds them guilty of anti-doping rules.

The president of Russia's bobsleigh federation Aleksandr Zubkov, 43, who won gold in the two-man and four-man event, was equally disqualified.

The International Olympic Committee will rule on whether Russia can compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics at its next meeting from 5-7 December.

In November 2015, Russia was banned from international athletics after claims of state-sponsored doping.

Former world champion Russian hurdler Sergey Shubenkov had to compete as a neutral at the IAAF World Championships in London in the summer, winning silver.

He told BBC Sport that there should not be a "blanket ban" for Russia's Winter Olympians.

"Everybody who is not involved in the scandal should be allowed to compete wearing their national colours," he said.

•Photo shows Russian athlete, Sergey Shubenkov.

Source Daily Sports

Posted November 25, 2017