IOC president says lifetime bans possible for dope cheats

IOC President Thomas Bach says entire Russian sports federations could be suspended if allegations of state-supported doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics are proven.

Bach says in an op-ed piece Wednesday that accusations that Russian officials subverted the drug-testing system at the Winter Games ''represent a shocking new dimension in doping'' and an ''unimaginable level of criminality.''

He says if the allegations are found to be true, sanctions could include lifetime Olympic bans, tough financial penalties and ''suspension or exclusion of entire national federations'' like the one already imposed by the IAAF on Russia's track and field program.

Bach's statement comes a day after the IOC announced that 31 athletes could be barred from this year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after their doping samples from the 2008 Beijing Games came back positive in retests.