IOC: Three more Russian bobsleighers banned

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Three more Russian bobsleighers were named and shamed for doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics by the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday.

Alexander Kasy'anov, fourth in the two-man bobsleigh, Aleksei Pushkarev and Ilvir Khuzin, both fourth in the four-man bobsleigh, had their results annulled and were given lifetime Olympic bans.

The trio were punished following ongoing hearings by an IOC commission into allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia at the 2014 Games, hosted by Russia.

In the past week, Alexander Zubkov, Aleksei Negodailo and Dmitrii Trunenkov have all been stripped of their four-man bobsleigh gold medal with Russia losing the team title.

Zubkov also had his two-man title scrubbed from the record books.

AP Photo

Wednesday's latest sanctions bring to 19 the number of Russian Olympians punished on the recommendation of the commission headed by Swiss sports official Denis Oswald.

In a statement from its Lausanne headquarters the IOC announced that "more hearings concerning other athletes will be held over the next few weeks."

It added: "The Oswald Commission has announced that all hearings for active athletes who could qualify for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 will be completed shortly. The IOC meets next week (December 5-7) to decide whether Russia can compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The statement confirmed: "The decision with regard to the participation of Russian athletes in the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 will be taken by the IOC Executive Board in December based on the findings of the IOC Disciplinary Commission chaired by Samuel Schmid, a former President of Switzerland."

Source(s): AFP