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No Winter Olympics for Russians whose life bans have been lifted, rules IOC

No Winter Olympics for Russians whose life bans have been lifted, rules IOC

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Earlier, the IOC had said the athletes may be allowed to attend the Winter Games

The International Olympic Committee said today that the 13 Russian athletes whose life bans for doping was lifted will not be invited for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics starting on Friday.

"The OAR IG (Olympic Athlete from Russia Implementation Group) confirmed that no additional invitations will be extended to these 15 individuals," the IOC said.

Earlier, the IOC had said the athletes may be allowed to attend the Winter Games after spokesman Mark Adams said the cases of the athletes would be examined by a specialist IOC panel.

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Last week the Court for Arbitration in Sport(CAS) had overturned the life bans on 28 Russian athletes linked to doping.

However, 169 Russians who have passed strict anti-doping protocols will compete under a neutral flag.

The IOC announcement comes after the body's president, Thomas Bach, slammed the CAS decision as "extremely disappointing and surprising" and called for reforms to the independent sports tribunal.

"We have some concerns about the quality of this decision," Bach said.

Russian officials had said last Tuesday that short track speed skating star Victor An has been excluded from the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics due to doping allegations.

Olympic champion biathlete Anton Shipulin and world champion skier Sergei Ustyugov were also absent from the list of athletes invited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the statement said.