Russia lose skeleton gold, bronze as four athletes get Olympic bans

Berlin (dpa) - Four more Russians athletes have been disqualified and given Olympic life bans in connection with doping practices at the 2014 Sochi Games, with Aleksandr Tretiakov stripped of his skeleton men‘s gold and Elena Nikitina of skeleton women‘s bronze.The International Olympic Committee said Wednesday that Tretiakov, Nikitina, and women‘s skeleton team members Mariia Orlova and Olga Potylitsyna were punished for violating anti-doping regulations.A special IOC commission has now sanctioned 10 of 28 Russian athletes mentioned in a report by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren which spoke of doping schemes in Sochi including the tampering with samples. The others include 50-kilometre cross-country skiing gold medallist Alexander Legkov and three-time silver medallist Maxim Vylegzhanin. The IOC aims to announce a ruling on Russian participation at the upcoming Winter Games on December 5 after a second commission has completed its work on doping practices in Russia. The IOC refrained from a blanket ban for the Rio 2016 Games and is expected to do the same again. Russia has refuted all allegations.