(ABC NEWS) - Russia has just been suspended from team competitions during the 2018 Winter Olympics following "systematic manipulation of the anti-doping system."
The International Olympic Committee announced the news on Tuesday during a executive board meeting, according to ABC News.
The decision came after increased pressure to reprimand the country for its alleged cover-up of doping by its athletes. It is an unprecedented punishment for a country in the history of the Olympics.
ABC News reports that it committee will allows some individual Russian athletes to compete under a neutral team banner.
ABC News reports that last year, an investigation by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found evidence that Russia had concealed doping by hundreds of its athletes for years and affected as many as 1,000 athletes across 30 sports.
Last summer, the IOC allowed the international federations of individual sports to choose which Russian athletes could compete, though 70 percent of the country's team was able to participate.
