Putin welcomes ruling to overturn Sochi doping bans

World
Europe

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday welcomed a court ruling to overturn doping bans against 28 Russian athletes who competed at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

"This, of course, cannot but give us joy," Putin told reporters when talking about the Court of Arbitration for Sport's ruling to overturn these athletes' doping bans and reinstate their results from Sochi.

"It confirms our position on the fact that the vast majority of our athletes are clean."

Putin added that Russia still needed to continue its fight against doping along with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Russia's gold medalist Alexander Legkov poses with compatriots silver medalist Maxim Vylegzhanin (L) and bronze medalist Ilia Chernousov (R) after being presented with medals for the men's cross-country 50km mass start free event during the closing ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Feb. 23, 2014. /Reuters Photo

"We ourselves have things to work on in terms of perfecting our anti-doping program and policy," he said. "We will do this in determined fashion with WADA."

Russia has vehemently denied the existence of a state-sponsored doping program in the country, as revealed in WADA-commissioned reports.

In December, the IOC banned Russia from this month's Olympic Games in Pyeonghang, but left the door open for Russian athletes without a doping background to compete at its invitation as neutrals.

The IOC cleared 169 Russians to compete, including two-time world figure skating champion Evgenia Medvedeva, but did not invite short-track speed skater Viktor Ahn and other top competitors.

Evgenia Medvedeva /Reuters Photo‍

It remains unclear whether any of the 28 athletes whose bans were overturned by the court will be able to compete at the PyeongChang Games, which start on Feb. 9.

The IOC said earlier on Thursday that the exonerated athletes would not necessarily be invited to compete.

5798km

Source(s): Reuters