Russian athletes banned from winter Olympics — despite no doping results
Moscow — Russia’s short-track speed skating star Victor An has been banned from the Pyeongchang Winter Games, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) confirmed on Tuesday, in the aftermath of a state-sponsored doping scandal. Six-time Olympic gold medallist An — who was born in South Korea but took Russian citizenship before the 2014 Sochi Games — was "absent from the list of potential participants", vice president of the ROC Stanislav Pozdnyakov said in a statement, confirming media reports from Monday. Olympic champion bi-athlete Anton Shipulin and world champion skier Sergey Ustyugov were also absent from the list, the statement said. The absent sportsmen have "never been implicated in any type of doping affair and the numerous tests they have passed in their careers show that they are clean athletes", Pozdnyakov said. "Today we will send the International Olympic Committee a request for the specific reasons why the captains of Russian teams in various sports have not been included i...
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