Russian Olympic flagbearer loses appeal in Sochi doping case
- Oct. 30, 2020 02:19 PM EDT
FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017 file photo, Alexander Zubkov, Olympic champion and President of the Russian Bobsleigh Federation, speaks to the media at a news conference in Moscow, Russia. Russia’s flagbearer at the 2014 Sochi Olympics opening ceremony lost his appeal Friday, Oct. 30, 2020 against being banned for doping in a state-backed program to win a gold medal. The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judges upheld two-year bans imposed by bobsled’s governing body on four athletes including Alexander Zubkov. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, file)

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Russia’s flagbearer at the 2014 Sochi Olympics opening ceremony lost his appeal on Friday against being banned for doping in a state-backed program to win a gold medal.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judges upheld two-year bans imposed by bobsled’s governing body on four athletes including Alexander Zubkov. He was disqualified after piloting his four-man crew to victory at Sochi.

CAS said it dismissed their appeals, though also refused a World Anti-Doping Agency request to extend the two-year bans because of aggravating circumstances. The bans expire in December.

All four were banned in January 2019 by the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. It accepted an earlier CAS ruling that the four took part in Russia’s orchestrated scheme to swap steroid-tainted samples for clean urine.

Zubkov was later elected to lead Russia’s bobsled federation.

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