"Clean" Russian athletes may take part in the Games under a neutral flag, TASS reported.
Russia banned from 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang
STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 6, ARTSAKHPRESS:The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ruled to suspend the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and to bar the country’s national team from the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the IOC press service announced on Tuesday.
"The IOC Executive Board today studied and discussed the findings of the Commission led by the former President of Switzerland, Samuel Schmid, addressing the systematic manipulation of the anti-doping system in Russia," the statement from the IOC said.
"This report also addresses in particular the manipulation at the anti-doping laboratory at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 which targeted the Olympic Games directly," according to the IOC.
The world’s governing Olympic body announced that "the conclusions of the Schmid Report, on both factual and legal aspects, confirmed the systemic manipulation of the anti-doping rules and system in Russia, through the Disappearing Positive Methodology and during the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014, as well as the various levels of administrative, legal and contractual responsibility, resulting from the failure to respect the respective obligations of the various entities involved."
Based on the findings, the IOC announced its decision to ban the Russian national team from taking part in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang over multiple doping abuse allegations.
The committee ruled that "clean" Russian athletes will be allowed to take part in the upcoming Olympic Games under a neutral flag. Individual athletes can still receive a permission to take part as neutral athletes and compete under the Olympic flag if they have no previous penalties or disqualifications for doping and pass all pre-Games targeted doping tests.
