The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said the offences were committed during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Further cases “cannot be excluded,” the IOC said.According to the IOC Disciplinary Commission, the athletes were also stripped of their medals and banned from future Olympic events.
The list of banned athletes includes speed skaters Ivan Skobrev, a two-time Olympic medallist, and Tatyana Ivanova, who won a silver medal in Sochi.
According to the IOC, the number of cases opened has reached 46. The committee said that it couldn’t rule out the possibility of “new elements that would justify opening further new cases and holding more hearings.”
The decision comes after investigations by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the IOC confirmed allegations of widespread doping among Russian athletes, who will not be able to compete under Russia’s flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. However, athletes with clean history of non-doping will be able to take part in the Olympics as neutrals.
The 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics will run from February 9 to February 25 in South Korea.
ft/msh (AFP, AP, Reuters)
