Olympics 2018: Media: Russia pays 15 million dollars fine to the IOC

Russia has allegedly fulfilled a crucial condition for lifting the suspension of its National Olympic Committee ROC before the closing ceremony of the Winter Games in Pyeongchang.

According to information from the French news agency AFP, the Russians have transferred the fine of 15 million dollars (12.14 million euros) to the IOC for their misdemeanours in the state doping affair. On Wednesday evening, AFP named a “person familiar with the case” as the source.

The IOC had suspended the ROC in Sochi four years ago because of the “systemic doping” of the Russians around the Winter Games. The payment of the fine was one of the IOC’s known preconditions for a pardon of the Russians during the games in Pyeongchang.

However, another Russian doping case puts the IOC and the “Olympic athletes from Russia” in South Korea under pressure.

Curler Alexander Kruschelnizki, bronze medallist in the Mixed competition, had been positively tested for the forbidden cardiac drug Meldonium. The case will be heard before the ad hoc chamber of the International Court of Justice for Sport CAS on Thursday.