The organization announced the ban for Russia on Monday after concluding that the country’s authorities had manipulated or deleted thousands of files containing athlete antidoping data. That action makes it unlikely that scores of potential drug cheats who benefited from the state-run cheating program may never be punished. The Russian team will take part in next summer’s European soccer championships, for example, and Saint Petersburg will remain one of the 12 host cities. Russia also is expected to retain the hosting rights to the 2021 Champions League final, the biggest match in club soccer. Heyns said the relevance of regional events did not factor into her opposition to a blanket ban.

Source: International New York Times December 12, 2019 10:41 UTC