MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin says he is pleased with the legal ruling that lifted the Olympic doping bans for 28 Russian athletes.
In comments reported by state news agency RIA Novosti, the Russian president says the ruling “can’t fail to please us” and that it “confirms our position that the overwhelming majority of our athletes are clean athletes.”
The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld bans for 11 other Russian athletes deemed to have doped at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but it reduced their lifetime bans to a ban from the upcoming Pyeongchang Games.
Putin called for respect for the IOC, saying that for this reason “there should not be any euphoria from our side and we need to be calm about this.”