DEVELOPING CAS nullifies Olympic life bans of 28 Russians, 11 banned from 2018

Berlin (dpa) - Twenty-eight Russians have had Olympic life bans completely nullified in connection with doping practices, and could compete at the upcoming Pyeongchang Winter Games in a major blow to the International Olympic Committee‘s (IOC) stance on the Russia issue.The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) meanwhile reduced the bans of 11 other Russians to just the February 9-25 Games in South Korea. They include Sochi double bobsleigh gold medallist Alexandr Zubkov, while those eligible to compete again include 2014 winners Alexander Legkov (cross-country) and Alexander Tretiakov (skeleton).The athletes had appealed after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) imposed the life bans around doping practices at the 2014 Games in Sochi.CAS said that in the case of the 28 athletes "the evidence collected was found to be insufficient to establish that an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) was committed by the athletes concerned. With respect to these 28 athletes, the appeals are upheld, the sanctions annulled and their individual results achieved in Sochi 2014 are reinstated."Concerning the other 11 "the IOC decisions in these matters are confirmed, with one exception: the athletes are declared ineligible for the next edition of the Olympic Winter Games (i.e. Pyeongchang 2018) instead of a life ban from all Olympic Games."