Russia banned from 2018 Winter Olympics

The International Olympic Committee Tuesday banned Russia from the 2018 Winter Games over its state-orchestrated doping programme, however, Russian athletes not found guilty of doping will be allowed to compete under the Olympic flag. IOC president Thomas Bach accused Russia of "perpetrating an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport". Reportedly, the banis believed to be one of the toughest sanction ever levelled by the IOC for drug cheating. The ban came 65 days ahead of the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The IOC Russia ban was announced after the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) and two subsequent IOC investigations confirmed Russian athletes to have participated in a drug-cheating programme which peaked during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Evidence also pointed at the alleged involvement of senior government officials. Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, who served as the country's sports minister during the Sochi Games has also been banned for life. Mutko currently heads the organising committee for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Russia. FIFA, in an official statement, said that it has taken note of IOC's decision on Mutko and stated that "no impact on the preparations" has taken place for the 2018 Russia World Cup. The IOC also suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and its chief Alexander Zhukov. Zhukov said he "apologised" to the IOC on Tuesday for the "anti-doping violations" committed in his country in recent years.

Reportedly, the IOChad an option to take more severe measures against Russian, including a blanket ban that was applied to apartheid-era South Africa from 1964 to 1988. The IOC moderate approach has now enabled some Russian athletes to compete in the Games after confirming to and coming clean out of a stringent testing programme and will participate under the name "Olympic Athlete from Russia" and shall compete under a neutral flag. "No Russian athlete with a previous doping violation will be allowed to compete and no official who had a leadership role at Sochi 2014 will be invited to Pyeongchang," noted an AFP report. Russia's flag will not fly at any 2018 ceremony, the IOC said.

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Mutko, on the other hand, has said the allegations were an attempt "to create an image of an axis of evil" against his country while Putin has warned that a Russia ban would cause "serious harm to the Olympic movement". He said forcing Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag would amount to a national "humiliation".

For Grigory Rodchenkov, the former Russian laboratory chief and whistleblower who lifted the lid on the cheating scheme, the IOC`s action was a needed step to clean up the Olympic movement.

(With inputs from AFP)