Russian Patriarch Prays For Athletes; Olympic Head 'Disappointed' By Ban Lifting

The International Olympic Committee "would never have expected" the lifting of lifetime Olympic bans from a number of Russian athletes, said its president, Thomas Bach. Speaking at a news conference on February 4 in Pyeongchang, the South Korean city hosting the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, Bach called a recent ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport "extremely disappointing and surprising." Also on February 4, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill led a prayer for the Russian athletes set to compete in the Winter Olympics. Speaking in the Assumption Cathedral inside the Kremlin in Moscow, he suggested that the doping bans on Russian athletes were part of a "lie [that] is globally organized." (Reuters)