E-Paper
International Olympic Committee gives Olympic Games life ban to Russian lawmaker in Sochi case
Alexei Voevoda, Russian lawmaker given Olympic Games life ban by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), was brakeman for Alexander Zubkov who drove Russia to victory in the two-man and four-man bobsled events at Sochi Winter Olympics
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says it has banned Russian lawmaker Alexei Voevoda from the Olympics for life for taking part in the 2014 Sochi Olympic doping program.
Voevoda was brakeman for Alexander Zubkov who drove Russia to victory in the two-man and four-man bobsled events.
Those titles were stripped last month when an IOC disciplinary commission disqualified Zubkov. He has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The judging panel later said urine samples from eight Russian bobsledders at Sochi had abnormally high salt levels and there were scratched glass bottles that were tampered with.
As an Olympic champion, Voevoda was elected to the state parliament for the United Russia party representing the Krasnodar region.
The IOC says the panel closed one case of a Russian athlete it did not identify.
The IOC decision increased the number of Russian athletes banned for life from the Olympics over alleged doping violations at the Sochi Games to more than 30.
The decision comes two weeks after the IOC banned Russia from next year’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics for what it called “unprecedented systematic manipulation” of the anti-doping system.
The IOC, however, left the door open for Russian athletes with a clean history of non-doping to be invited to compete in Pyeongchang as neutrals.
