Russia's top Olympic official Alexander Zhukov apologized to the International Olympic Committee board for doping violations ahead of its ruling that Russian athletes must compete under a neutral flag in Pyeongchang.
"I as president of the Russian Olympic Committee, apologize for breaches of anti-doping rules which were committed in our country," he said, according to a text of his speech on the Russian Olympic Committee website.
However, Zhukov rejected the evidence behind the central charge that Russia ran a doping system at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, adding that Russians competing under a neutral flag at the Olympics would "feel like outcasts."
Russia has been banned from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics after the IOC found evidence of an "unprecedented systematic manipulation" of the anti-doping system. "Clean" Russian athletes will be allowed to take part in the upcoming Olympic Games under a neutral flag as 'Olympic Athlete from Russia' (OAR).
The upcoming Olympics will take place in South Korea’s Pyeongchang on February 9-25, 2018.
