Olympics: IOC blocks Legkov and Below for life

The IOC has suspended the Russian cross-country skiing Olympic champion Alexander Legkov and his team mate Yevgeny Belov from the Olympic Games in Sochi for life because of doping at the Winter Games in Sochi.

Legkov had won gold in 2014 over 50 km, the medal must be returned to the IOC by the Russian Ski Association in a timely manner. Second was Legkov’s compatriot Maxim Wylegschanin, who has been provisionally banned since December 2016.

Legkov and Belov are accused of having benefited in Sochi from the state-controlled doping program of the Russians. The judgement also concerns the Russian 15-km relay that had won silver behind Sweden. The quartet had also been disqualified afterwards, with France and Norway moving up to second and third.

Legkov’s German lawyer Christof Wieschemann calls the verdict of the IOC Disciplinary Commission “scandalous”. With the decision, the “IOC” goes far beyond the information contained in the McLaren Report without further investigation and without further evidence, and opposes the CAS/TAS decision (international sports tribunal, d. Red.) in the same thing.”

The decision, Wieschemann said,”deserved to be called a scandal. It is downright derisive of the statement by the President of the IOC, Dr. Thomas Bach, on the basis of hard evidence.”

According to Wieschemann, the affected athletes will lodge an appeal with CAS no later than Thursday:”Should the proceedings be delayed beyond the start of the Olympic Games in 2018 and a postponement of the competitions by an interim injunction is not possible, the results may have to be subsequently annulled,”the lawyer said.