IOC restores Russia's Olympic membership

International Olympic Committee (IOC) has restored Russia's Olympic membership with immediate effect following its suspension from the Winter Olympics at Pyeongchang in South Korea. 

Russia was banned from February's Games by the IOC over state-sponsored doping. 

Before Sunday's closing ceremony of the Games, the IOC had said that the ban would be lifted, as long as there were no more



anti-doping violations. 

The IOC said all the remaining tests on the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) team were found negative. President of Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov welcomed the IOC's decision. 

A total of 168 Russians competed as part of a neutral OAR team at the Winter Olympics and was the third largest to win 17 medals, including two golds.