Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has announced in the state doping affair that he will go to ordinary courts:”I know that many international officials do not want this, but what can we do? We are forced to help our athletes and defend their honor and dignity in civil courts,”Putin said at his annual press conference in Moscow.
He hopes for “constructive relations” with the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA:”I hope we will work with them calmly to eliminate the problems we have,” Putin said:”But of course we are working to defend the interests of our athletes, including before civil courts.
In Russia, more than 1000 athletes have benefited from a state-supported doping system between 2011 and 2015. At the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, doping tests of Russian athletes were exchanged and manipulated.
So far, the IOC has imposed lifelong Olympic suspensions on 31 Russian athletes, and at least 15 other cases are still pending.
At the winter games in Pyeongchang next February, Russian athletes will only be allowed to compete under a neutral flag as “Olympic Athletes of Russia”.