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Russia faces decision on Winter Olympics ban for doping

Lausanne, Switzerland: The International Olympic Committee meets from Tuesday to decide whether to bar Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics for doping violations, in one of the weightiest decisions ever faced by the Olympic movement.

The build-up to the high-stakes summit in Lausanne just 66 days before the start of the Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, has been dominated by an almost daily drip of negative news for the winter sports heavyweights.

On November 26, athletics' ruling body the International Association of Athletics Federations maintained its two-year-long suspension of Russia imposed over claims of state-sponsored doping.

That ban prevented its athletes from competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics and this year's World Championships in London.

The IAAF felt they were left with little choice after the World Anti-Doping Agency had announced on November 16 that Russia was still not compliant with international rules on doping.

WADA's refusal to lift the suspension of Moscow's national anti-doping body raised the stakes in Russia's possible exclusion from Pyeongchang.

Russia's chances of going to Pyeongchang have been further damaged by a raft of bans handed out to its medallists at the Sochi 2014 Games in the past week.

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