Athletes, National Federations May Face Life-Long Olympic Bans Over Doping

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — National sport federations and athletes could face life-long bans from the Olympic Games if the doping allegations prove to be true, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach said Wednesday.

"It could be life-long Olympic ban for any implicated person… There could be financial sanctions on the organization involved, this can include the acceptance of suspension or exclusion of entire national federations," Bach said during a teleconference.

His comments came amid the recent IOC request to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to retest doping samples of athletes who had taken part in the Beijing, London and Sochi Olympic Games.

Asked who takes the final decision on the disqualification of the athletes, Bach stated that "first of all, it is in the hands of the international federations who have this right with regard to their sport to decide over the availability of the athletes."

The International Olympic Committee has retested 454 selected doping samples from the Beijing Olympic Games 2008. According to the results, nearly 31 athletes from six sports could be banned from competing at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The IOC is expecting some 250 retested results from London-2012 Olympics in the near future.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said on Tuesday it would move forward with the inquiry into new allegations of Russian doping during the 2014 Sochi Olympics following the IOC request and publish its results in due course, while Moscow vowed full cooperation with an objective probe.