Medal glory to pariah: How Russian doping scandal unfolded

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea: A late bid by 47 Russians to take part in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics was thrown out by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Friday, just hours before the opening ceremony.
Here are the main events in the long-running Russian doping controversy:
May 2016
Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of Moscow's anti-doping laboratory, goes public with details about an organised Russian doping campaign at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

July 2016
Barely two weeks before the Rio Olympics, Canadian law professor Richard McLaren releases an explosive report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which outlines state-run Russian doping at the Sochi Olympics and other major sports events. WADA calls for Russia to be banned from Rio.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stops short of an outright ban and says individual sports federations will have to decide whether to allow Russian athletes. The International Association of Athletics Federations suspends Russia, as does the International Paralympic Committee.
December 2016
Second part of McLaren report is published, alleging state-sponsored Russian doping between 2011 and 2015, with sample-tampering at the 2012 London Olympics and Sochi 2014, where Russia topped the medals table.
December 2017
Vitaly Mutko, Russia's deputy prime minister, uses a speech before the draw for the 2018 World Cup in Russia to slam doping allegations as "an attempt to create an image of an axis of evil".
Following its own investigations, the IOC bans the Russian Olympic Committee from the Pyeongchang Games but says clean Russian athletes will be able to take part as neutral competitors. Mutko receives a lifetime Olympic ban.

January 2018
Russian Olympic officials say that 169 athletes are approved by the IOC to take part in Pyeongchang. The final number is confirmed as 168.

February 2018
There is a flurry of appeals to CAS as excluded Russian competitors attempt to overturn their exclusion from the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Hours before the opening ceremony, CAS throws out a bid by 47 athletes and staff. — AFP