1ST LEAD IOC bans three more Russians from Olympics for life By Martin Romanczyk, dpa

Berlin (dpa) - Three Russian bobsledders have been banned for life by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as part of its probe into doping practices at the Sochi 2014 Games, bringing the total number of sanctioned Russian athletes to 22.The IOC said in a statement that Alexandr Kas‘yanov, Aleksei Pushkarev and Ilvir Khuzin were banned "in the context of the Sochi 2014 forensic and analytical doping investigations" conducted by an IOC commission.None of the three athletes won medals, with all three in the four-man bob that finished fourth, and Kas‘yanov also a member of the two-man team that came fourth.The IOC earlier banned for life from the Games Alexandr Zubkhov who won two-man and four-man gold in 2014 in the other Russian sled. Two of his team-mates also received life bans.The IOC probe is based on reports from independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigator Richard McLaren.The 22 athletes sanctioned th life bans are from the sports of bobsleigh, skeleton, cross-country skiing, biathon and speed skating. The case against one other athlete was closed without sanctions.A second IOC commission is looking into allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia, and the IOC plans to decide on December 5 whether or not to impose a blanket ban on Russian athkletes for the opcoming Pyeongchang Games.The IOC had on Monday also published the detailled 46-page reasoning for one of the life bans, concerning cross-country skier Alexander Legkov and swapping of his Sochi sample.Legkov‘s lawyer, Christoph Wieschemann, said Wednesday that the IOC lacked evidence and was prejudiced - and that Legkov could have done without the hearing because "the commission already had a verdict before we opened the door to the meeting room."Wieschemann plans to contest the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sports.