iStock/Thinkstock(LAUSANNE, Switzerland) — The International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation has decided to relocate the IBSF World Championships 2017 from Sochi, Russia to another location which will be determined in the coming days.
In a statement, the IBSF Executive Committee said that it was not “prudent” to organize the event in Russia following allegations revealed last week in the second part of the McLaren report on Russian doping.
The statement noted the “great effort” put in by the Russian Bobsleigh Federation to organize the event, originally scheduled for February 2017. But the committee said international concerns about Russian doping would made it extremely difficult for athletes and coaches to focus on the competition if the event were to be held in Sochi.
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, speaking in an interview with RT, called the decision to move the championships “politicized.”
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.