Russia refuses to return medals of athletes accused of doping
The Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation declared that skiers and bobsledders who were disqualified from the Olympics and stripped of their 2014 Olympic Medals are not going to return the medals and will ask the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne to consider their lawsuits before the 2018 Olympics, reported Interfax, citing a source in the Russian Ministry of Sport.
“The Bobsled Federation of Russia and the Cross-Country Ski Federation of Russian are ready to appeal to the CAS and will ask for expedited lawsuits in order to participate in the Olympic Games,” the report states.
The press service said that the disqualified athletes “do not intend to return the medals and will sue.”
“The Ministry of Sport is providing and will provide comprehensive support to all athletes who were disqualified by the IOC Commission’s decision,” the report says.
The 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang will be held from February 9 to 25 next year.
Russian athletes began to be disqualified after the publication of Richard McLaren’s report on massive doping in Russia. The investigation said that about 1,000 Russian athletes systematically violated anti-doping rules from 2012 to 2014. According to the McLaren Report, “dirty” doping tests of the Russian national team were replaced by “clean” ones, and both the Ministry of Sport and FSB actively participated in this.
Because of doping, Russia lost its first place in the medal count in the Olympics in Sochi.