MOSCOW, February 26./TASS/. Russian athletes taking part in the PyeongChang Olympic Games have returned to Moscow. The plane carrying the athletes has touched down at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, TASS reports from the site.
The hockey, cross-country skiing, figure skating, bobsleigh and freestyle skiing teams have returned to Moscow.
The team of athletes from Russia won 17 medals at the PyeongChang Olympics, which ended on Sunday. Overall, the Russian ‘neutral’ athletes took home two gold, six silver and nine bronze medals. The gold medals went to Russian figure skater Alina Zagitova and the men’s ice hockey players who beat Germany 4-3 in overtime on the final day of the Olympics.
Late last year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) over doping abuse allegations but allowed clean Russian athletes to participate in the 2018 Winter Games under the Olympic flag and in the neutral status of an Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR).
On the final day of the Olympics, the International Olympic Committee made a decision to prolong the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee’s membership, which had forced Russian athletes to compete in PyeongChang under the Olympic flag. Earlier, IOC member Shamil Tarpishchev told TASS that Russia’s suspension might be terminated before February 28. For this the doping tests of all other athletes who competed at the Olympics must be negative.