'Athletes refusing to return their medals may be banned from Olympics'

Moscow: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has the right to ban athletes who refuse to return their medals after their results were annulled for doping, from participation in the next Olympics, lawyer for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Alexandra Brilliantova said on Wednesday.

"The athletes who did not return their medals won at the previous Games can apply to participate in the Olympics as the Olympic Charter envisages no punishment for failure to hand over medals. But if these persons think about continuing their career, they should meet IOC's demands. This organisation decides on participation in the Olympic Games," Brilliantova said.

Those foreign athletes, whose results of the Olympic Games had been annulled in previous years, have returned their medals, she said.

The IOC stripped Russia of 13 medals won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and five medals of the 2012 London Olympics after conducting re-tests of urine samples.