Russian doping: IOC bans three more Winter Olympic athletes

Olga Zaytseva (left) is the latest of Russia's 2014 Sochi biathlon relay team to be banned. Yana Romanova (second left) and Olga Vilukhina (far right) have previously received life bans

Three more Russian athletes have been banned from the Olympics for life as a result of the International Olympic Committee's investigations into the country's doping scandal.

They are cross-country skiers Yulia Chekaleva and Anastasia Dotsenko, as well as biathlete Olga Zaytseva.

Zaytseva was part of Russia's biathlon relay team at the Sochi Winter Games in 2014 that won a silver medal.

Two of that team had already been punished by the IOC.

• Russia remains non-compliant, says Wada

• McLaren report: How a doping scandal unfolded

• What did the McLaren report say?

The IOC announced the first Russian bans, based on the findings of the 2016 McLaren report, on 1 November.

Twenty-five Russian athletes have now been suspended from the Olympics for life since that date.

The McLaren report said Russian athletes benefited from a state-sponsored doping programme between 2011 and 2015, speaking of "a cover-up that evolved from uncontrolled chaos to an institutionalised and disciplined medal-winning conspiracy".

In explaining its decision to punish Alexander Legkov, one of two Russian skiers banned on 1 November, the IOC said the athlete had "sought to argue that no evidence could be drawn from the McLaren report" but it had "come to a different conclusion".

It said the authority of the report's author, Professor Richard McLaren, was "unquestionable" and it "can and will rely" on its findings.

The latest bans come with the IOC set to rule on whether Russia will be allowed to compete at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, which begin on 9 February.

The IOC will announce its decision at its next meeting, scheduled to begin on 5 December.

Russian Sochi Olympians banned

Gold medallists

Alexander Legkov, 50km cross country

Aleksei Negodailo, four-man bobsleigh

Aleksandr Tretiakov, skeleton

Dmitry Trunenkov, four-man bobsleigh

Aleksandr Zubkov, two-man and four-man bobsleigh

Silver medallists

Olga Fatkulina, 500m speed skating

Yana Romanova, biathlon relay

Olga Zaytseva, biathlon relay

Olga Vilukhina, biathlon relay and 7.5km biathlon

Maksim Vylegzhanin, 50km cross country

Men's 4x10km cross country

Men's team sprint classic cross country

Bronze medallists

Elena Nikitina, women's skeleton

Others

Evgeniy Belov, cross country

Yuliia Ivanova, cross country

Sergei Chudinov, skeleton

Alexey Petukhov, cross country

Evgeniya Shapovalova, cross country

Maria Orlova, skeleton

Olga Potylitsyna, skeleton

Olga Stulneva, bobsleigh

Alexander Rumyantsev, speed skater

Yulia Chekaleva, cross country

Anastasia Dotsenko, cross country

Aleksandr Kasyanov, four-man bobsleigh

Ilvir Khuzin, four-man bobsleigh

Aleksei Pushkarev, four-man bobsleigh