Russian Patriarch Prays For Athletes, Olympic Head 'Disappointed' By Ban Lifting

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) "would never have expected" the lifting of lifetime Olympic bans from a number of Russian athletes, said its president, Thomas Bach. Speaking at a news conference held on February 4 in Pyeongchang, the South Korean city hosting the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, Bach referred to a recent ruling by the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), calling it "extremely disappointing and surprising." Also on February 4, Patriarch Kirill who heads the Russian Orthodox Church led a prayer for the Russian athletes set to compete in the Winter Olympics. Speaking in a sermon at the Assumption Cathedral inside the Kremlin in Moscow, the cleric suggested that the doping bans on Russian athletes were part of a "lie [that] is globally organized." (Reuters)