Russia says Ahn among top athletes barred from Olympics

MOSCOW (AP) — Several of Russia’s top medal hopes for next month’s Olympics, including six-time speedskating gold medalist Viktor Ahn, have been barred from the Pyeongchang Games amid the country’s ongoing doping scandal, sparking renewed talk of a boycott.

Already depleted by doping bans and forced to compete under a neutral flag, Russia now faces an Olympics without some of its top skiers, figure skaters and sliders after they failed to pass International Olympic Committee vetting.

The exclusions have stirred renewed talk of a boycott, something athletes and officials ruled out last month when the IOC formally banned the Russian team, instead allowing “Olympic Athletes from Russia” under the Olympic flag.

“There was an attempt to take the Russian athletes’ flag, anthem, to push Russia toward a boycott ... And now this is the second attempt, tyranny, an attempt to drive a wedge between athletes who had managed to keep their good name,” Mikhail Degtyarev, chairman of the Russian parliament’s sports committee, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

“I’m not personally a supporter of a boycott. I consider it counterproductive, but we need to defend our honor.”