The Russian Olympic Committee was suspended on Tuesday from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea over the 2014 Sochi doping scandal. Russia’s Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko and his then-Deputy Minister Yuri Nagornykh are banned from all future participation at Olympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Russian athletes will be able to compete in the Olympics as neutrals.
The IOC, which also suspended the Russian Olympic committee and IOC member Alexander Zhukov, said some competitors will be invited to participate as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR)" without their national flag or anthem.
Russia could refuse the offer and boycott the games.
The IOC also banned Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko for life from the Olympics for his role in the country’s doping program.
Mutko, who was sports minister at the time of the 2014 Sochi Olympics, remained head of the 2018 World Cup organizing committee.
IOC commission chairman Samuel Schmid says the doping program "was under the authority of the Russian sports ministry. That is why the then sports minister has responsibility for the failure of this system."
Mutko appeared at the Kremlin last week alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino. There was no immediate comment from FIFA on Mukto's continuing role as head of the Russian soccer federation and the World Cup organizing committee.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said it would be humiliating for Russia to compete without national symbols. The IOC also imposed a fine of $15 million on the Russia Olympic committee.
So not to turn this into a political thread, BUT a lib fb "friend" of mine obviously read the headlines only. Posted " How can TRUMP get away with this"?
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Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug.
So not to turn this into a political thread, BUT a lib fb "friend" of mine obviously read the headlines only. Posted " How can TRUMP get away with this"?
I am kind of over the Olympics. It isn't what it used to be. Well, maybe it isn't what i used to THINK it was. It probably always was corrupt. Everything is now.
I agree lgs, I remember up till I was a young adult how the Olympics was a big deal to watch, almost all my classmates and friends watched them
(Who could forget mark spitz, Dorothy Hamel) nowadays it is just meh.
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