Russia has been Banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea over the country’s “systemic manipulation” of anti-doping rules.

It is the most wide ranging punishment ever meted out by the IOC on a participating nation, let alone a powerhouse of the Olympic movement.

Russia’s Olympic Committee has also been ordered to pay $15 million to reimburse the IOC’s costs of investigating the doping scandal and help set up the new Independent Testing Authority (ITA).

Vitaly Mutko, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, former Minister of Sport and chairman of the organizing committee for soccer’s 2018 World Cup in Russia as been barred from attending any future Olympic Games and so has his former deputy, Yuri Nagornykh.

However, Russian athletes who can prove that they are clean will be “invited” to compete in Pyeongchang.

In 2018, Russia will host the World Cup, but football’s world governing body FIFA said in a statement that the IOC’s decision “has no impact on the preparations” for the tournament.

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