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Doping scandal in Russian sports

IOC, WADA, IIHF express no doping claims regarding Russia’s men ice hockey team

Earlier, the IOC announced that six more Russian athletes, namely from the Russian National Women Ice Hockey Team, had been banned for life

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. The world’s governing Olympic body, as well as the international anti-doping organization and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) had no claims whatsoever regarding possible anti-doping rules’ violations by the Russian men’s national ice hockey team, according to the statement from the national hockey’s federation.

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IOC bans for life six players from Russian national women’s ice hockey team

"The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Ice Hockey Federation have no claims in regard to the Russian men’s national ice hockey team," the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (RHF) said in its statement.

The IOC’s Denis Oswald-led commission had carried out retests of Russian athletes’ doping samples collected at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and, as a result, already cancelled the results of 25 athletes from their home Games.

Earlier in the day, the IOC announced in its statement that six more Russian athletes, namely from the Russian Women’s Ice Hockey Team, had been banned for life as well and the ruling followed results of the Oswald-led Commission as well.

Moreover, based on the commissions' findings, the IOC Executive Board announced its decision on December 5 to suspend the whole Russian national team from taking part in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang.

The IOC, however, stated that doping-free athletes from Russia could go to the 2018 Olympic Games under the classification of neutral athletes, or the OAR status, which stands for ‘Olympic Athlete from Russia.’

The IOC Executive Board also announced last week that the ROC was to reimburse the costs incurred by the IOC for the probes and to contribute to the establishment of an Independent Testing Authority (ITA), which carries a price tag of $15 million.

The world’s governing Olympic body stated that not only did it ban Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko and ex-Sports Minister Yury Nagornykh from attending all Olympic events in their official capacities, but it also yanked the membership of the ROC and its President Zhukov. A number of additional sanctions against other Russian sports officials followed from the IOC as well.

The upcoming Olympics, which are 23rd Winter Games, will take place in South Korea’s PyeongChang on February 9-25, 2018.

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Doping scandal in Russian sports

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