IndiaToday.in | Posted by Abreshmina S Quadri
December 6, 2017 | UPDATED 00:29 IST
International Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday of the ban on Russia for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea for state-sponsored doping at 2014 Sochi Games.
(Reuters photo)Russia, on Tuesday, was barred from competing at 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
IOC will follow up the ban with an investigation into allegations of state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Games.
According to reports, clean Russian athletes would be allowed to compete in Pyeongchang under a neutral flag.
Anti-doping agencies and many athletes wanted Russia to be completely excluded from Pyeongchang but Moscow has vehemently denied state involvement and complained of political manipulation.
Russia were facing the same decision ahead of the Rio Summer games 18 months ago but the IOC, at that time, stopped short of imposing a blanket ban and instead left decisions on individual athletes' participation to the respective sports federations.
Russia's anti-doping agency (RUSADA) has been suspended since a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission headed by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren in 2015 found evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russia and accused it of systematically violating anti-doping regulations.
A further WADA report by McLaren in 2016 found that more than 1,000 Russian competitors in more than 30 sports had been involved in a conspiracy to conceal positive drug tests over a five-year period.
In the last month, the IOC's own commission has banned more than 20 Russian athletes from the Olympics for life over doping violations at the 2014 Winter Games that Russia hosted in Sochi, while WADA has said that Russia remains "non-compliant" with its code.
The options facing the 15-member IOC Executive Board, which meets on Tuesday, include a blanket ban on Russia or allowing Russian athletes to compete in South Korea as neutrals. This would mean that they could not participate under Russia's flag and the Russian anthem would not be played at medal ceremonies.
The IOC could also do what it did at Rio and defer the decision to the international sports federations. Although Russia was barred from athletics and weightlifting, it was able to send around 70 percent of its original 387-strong squad after other sports' federations accepted its athletes.
(With inputs from Reuters)