DOPING: IOC SANCTIONS MAKSIM VYLEGZHANIN, 3 OTHER RUSSIAN ATHLETES

LAUZANNE, Switzerland – The International Olympic Committee, IOC has sanctioned four Russian athletes and closes one case as part of Oswald Commission findings.

This is based on the IOC new conclusions from the Oswald Commission hearings, which are being conducted in the context of the Sochi 2014 forensic and analytic doping investigations.

“As a result, the four Russian cross country skiers, Yuliia Ivanova, Alexey Petukhov, Evgeniya Shapovalova and Sochi 2014 three-time silver medallist Maksim Vylegzhanin, have been sanctioned”, IOC said, adding that the case opened against a fifth athlete has been closed without a sanction.

It said more hearings concerning other athletes will be held over the next few weeks. The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for these four cases of Mr Denis Oswald (Chairman), Mr Juan Antonio Samaranch and Mr Patrick Baumann, decided that the athletes Yuliia IVANOVA, Alexey PETUKHOV, Evgeniya SHAPOVALOVA and Maksim VYLEGZHANIN are found to have committed anti-doping rule violations pursuant to Article 2 of The International Olympic Committee Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, in 2014, and are disqualified from the events in which they participated.

“In addition, the four athletes are declared ineligible to be accredited in any capacity for all editions of the Games of the Olympiad and the Olympic Winter Games subsequent to the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014”, the IOC said.

The IOC Disciplinary Commission issued a fifth decision in which it found that the elements in the file and the conclusions of the investigations conducted so far were not sufficient to establish an anti-doping rule violation.

Accordingly, the disciplinary proceedings opened against the athlete were terminated and the case filed. The IOC said in order to protect the rights of the athlete, the identity of the athlete concerned will not be disclosed and the decision will not be published at this point in time, the IOC said.
After receiving the results from the final McLaren report in December 2016, the IOC opened proceedings against the 28 Russian athletes mentioned in the report, which are now being heard by the Oswald Commission.

The Oswald Commission has announced that all hearings for active athletes who could qualify for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 will be completed by the end of November 2017.