Russia Loses Sochi Olympic Crown as Doping Scandal Claims Medals
- Host of 2014 Winter Games loses top ranking in medal table
- Putin personally oversaw $50 billion Sochi Games preparations
Winter Olympic Park in Sochi, Russia, on Jan. 27, 2014.
Photographer: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
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Russia lost its top ranking in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, the most expensive in history, when it was stripped of two more gold medals in the doping scandal that’s engulfed the nation’s athletes.
The International Olympic Committee on Friday banned Alexander Zubkov, who won golds in the two-man and four-man bobsleigh events, after declaring that he’d violated anti-doping rules. Speed skater Olga Fatkulina, who won a silver medal in Sochi, was among three other Russian athletes who were also disqualified for doping offenses at the Games.