‘Russia Just Keeps On Lying’

“Russia lost its top ranking in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, the most expensive in history, when it was stripped of two more gold medals in the doping scandal that’s engulfed the nation’s athletes…

“Russian resentment over the doping allegations, which the Kremlin denies, is already a source of tension with the U.S. President Vladimir Putin, who personally oversaw the $50 billion preparations for the Games, has accused the U.S. of using the question of Russian participation in the Olympics as a means to influence presidential elections next March, in which he’s expected to seek a record fourth term…

“The IOC’s review of Russian athletes at Sochi followed the report of an independent commission last year. It concluded that Russian officials engaged in a “systematic scheme” to obscure positive dope-test results involving about 1,000 athletes from 2011-2015. The commission led by Richard McLaren found that Russia developed the program after its athletes finished in 11th place with just three gold medals at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, its worst performance since the collapse of the Soviet Union…

‘NHL Says ‘NO’ To Olympics’

“Some familiar faces will be absent at the 2018 Winter Olympics: NHL players representing their countries in the men’s ice hockey tournament.

“After months of negotiating with the ‘IIHF’, world hockey’s governing body, the NHL announced…that its players would not be participating in the Pyeongchang Games. The NHL is opposed to a 17-day break in the NHL schedule to accommodate the matches.

‘Undermining the Spirit of Sport’

A dark side of international sport raised its ugly head at the Olympics, yet again: ‘Lebanese Olympics team stops Israelis from boarding shared bus’

“The Rio 2016 Olympic Games began on a sour note for the Israeli delegation, but not one relating to the actual competition. When the delegation was ready to board the bus to the Maracana stadium in the Brazilian city, they were physically prevented from doing so by the Lebanese delegation, already aboard, according to Israeli sailor Udi Gal.