6 Russian weightlifters, judo champion banned for doping

The latest bans come less than two weeks before a key vote on whether to allow Russia’s track and field team to compete at the Olympics.

Russian Anti-doping agency banned six weightlifters and a judo champion.

The Russian anti-doping agency says six weightlifters, including former world and European junior champions have been banned for doping offenses. The agency says 2014 world junior champion Larisa Kobeleva received a four-year ban and Nadezhda Ovchinnikova, the European junior champion in 2014, was banned for two years.

The other four weightlifters received sanctions of between four and eight years for doping offenses committed last year. It did not publish details of the offenses. There was also a four-year ban for Russian judo champion Pyotr Khachirov.

The latest bans come less than two weeks before a key vote on whether to allow Russia’s track and field team to compete at the Olympics. Today, the Russian Sports Ministry pledged to add anti-doping education to the curriculum in all schools.