PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) dashed Russian athletes’ hopes of marching behind their national flag at the Winter Games on Sunday, deciding against immediately lifting Russia’s Olympic suspension after fresh doping violations. The IOC said two Russian doping violations during the Pyeongchang Games had marred an otherwise clean report card for the Russian delegation at the Games. Bach said Russia’s Olympic status would be restored automatically once it was confirmed there were no other doping violations by Russian athletes at Pyeongchang. “This is an objective condition ... and then the sanction is lifted.”The suspended Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) said it hoped to return to the Olympic family in the coming days. “Some athletes stayed behind later with the hope that they would be walking under the Russian flag.

Source: Huffington Post February 25, 2018 06:33 UTC