International Olympic Committee bars Russia from 2018 Winter Games

International Olympic Committee bars Russia from 2018 Winter Games over doping
by Yuliya Talmazan

Russia's Olympic team has been barred from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea as punishment for alleged state-backed doping at the 2014 Sochi Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Tuesday.

The IOC will allow individual athletes from Russia to compete as neutrals "under strict conditions" at the PyeongChang Games, with uniforms bearing the name "Olympic Athlete from Russia."

"This was an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport," IOC presdident Thomas Bach said in a statement. "The IOC [executive board] after following due process, has issued proportional sanctions for this systemic manipulation while protecting the clean athletes. This should draw a line under this damaging episode and serve as a catalyst for a more effective anti-doping system." ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...-russia-2018-winter-games-over-doping-n826671

Dang! I wonder if this means that only individual athletes can compete and not teams (like hockey)?

I am an Olympic junkie - this is HUGE!

I love the winter Olympics, too

CNN report indicated that some individual athletes might be allowed to compete.

(CNN)"Clean" Russian athletes will be "invited" to take part in the Winter Olympics in South Korea next year, though they will be required to compete under the Olympic flag.

Russia Banned From Winter Olympics by I.O.C.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Russia’s Olympic team has been barred from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The country’s government officials are forbidden to attend, its flag will not be displayed at the opening ceremony and its anthem will not sound. Any athletes from Russia who receive special dispensation to compete will do so as individuals wearing a neutral uniform, and the official record books will forever show that Russia won zero medals.

That was the punishment issued Tuesday to the proud sports juggernaut that has long used the Olympics as a show of global force but was exposed for systematic doping in previously unfathomable ways. The International Olympic Committee, after completing its own prolonged investigations that reiterated what had been known for more than a year, handed Russia penalties for doping so severe they were without precedent in Olympics history...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/...column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

Russians to compete at Olympics as neutral athletes
Graham Dunbar, Associated Press

Lausanne, Switzerland — Russian athletes will be allowed to compete at the upcoming Pyeongchang Olympics as neutrals despite orchestrated doping at the 2014 Sochi Games, the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday.

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic committee and IOC member Alexander Zhukov, and also banned Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vilaty Mutko from the Olympics for life. Mutko was the sports minister in 2014 and is the head of the organizing committee of soccer's next World Cup.

The IOC also imposed a fine of $15 million on the Russian Olympic committee to pay for investigations into the case and toward future anti-doping work.

Still, the IOC ruled that some Russians will be invited to compete as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR)" without their national flag or anthem...

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sp...-compete-olympics-neutral-athletes/108336340/

Haley: 'Open question' if US athletes will attend Olympics amid North Korea tensions

United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley said Wednesday there’s still an “open question” as to whether the U.S. will send its athletes to South Korea in February for the Winter Olympics, citing escalating tensions with North Korea.

“I think those are conversations we’re going to have to have. But what have we always said? We don’t ever fear anything. We live our lives,” Haley said on Fox News...

http://thehill.com/policy/internati...-athletes-will-attend-olympics-in-south-korea

Sigh. The Olympics are such a wonderful thing, and people muck it up.

jmo

Nikki Haley casts some doubt on U.S. athletes at 2018 PyeongChang Olympics
by Erik Ortiz

Nikki Haley, America's ambassador to the United Nations, suggested that the United States' participation in February's Winter Olympics in South Korea remains up in the air amid mounting provocations by the North.

Haley was asked Wednesday night on Fox News whether sending American athletes was a "done deal," and responded that the situation is an "open question."

"I have not heard anything about that," she added, "but I do know in the talks that we have — whether it's Jerusalem or North Korea — it's about, how do we protect the U.S. citizens in the area?" ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/w...e-doubt-u-s-athletes-2018-pyeongchang-n827331

Russian Olympic uniforms embrace the gray

If you're walking through the Olympic Village in Pyeongchang, South Korea, next month and see someone wearing nondescript track pants and a gray hoodie, don't assume that it's someone from the support staff. There's a good chance it could be a Russian Olympian.



http://www.espn.com/olympics/story/...iforms-leave-country-colors-home-embrace-gray

It remains unclear who will get to wear these uniforms, as the IOC is still in the process of certifying which Russian athletes are doping-free. Those who make the cut will get to wear the OAR gear, which is destined to go down as an interesting historical footnote, if not a particularly flashy one, in Olympic design history.