Sports
13:54, 24-Jan-2018
Olympic champ Ahn, other Russian athletes barred from PyeongChang Games
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Viktor Ahn, a six-time Winter Olympic gold medalist, and other top Russian athletes have been barred from competing in the upcoming PyeongChang Games in South Korea.
The Russia Olympic Committee (ROC) said speed skater Ahn, cross-country skier Sergei Ustyugov and biathlete Anton Shipulin have been banned from competing.
ROC senior vice president Stanislav Pozdnyakov said he discovered the absences during negotiations with International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials Monday and wanted an explanation. Pozdnyakov stressed the three athletes "have never been involved in any doping cases, and that they are clean athletes." The IOC said it would not comment on individual cases.
Ahn wins the men's 1,000-meter short-track speed skating final event at the Iceberg Skating Palace during the 2014 Sochi Games. /Reuters Photo
Ahn wins the men's 1,000-meter short-track speed skating final event at the Iceberg Skating Palace during the 2014 Sochi Games. /Reuters Photo
"They are clearing up the field so that other athletes from other counties gain unfair victories. This has nothing to do with sports justice, sports and Olympic spirit," Mikhail Degtyarev, head of the State Duma Committee for Sports said.
The IOC had cut a short list of 500 Russian athletes down to a pool of 389 on Friday, but didn't give any names.
Ahn, a short-track speed skater, won three gold medals for South Korea at the 2006 Olympics as Ahn Hyun-soo before switching allegiance to Russia in the run-up to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where he won three more.