Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin speak out against Russian doping

It’s been called an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport, prompting the most wide-ranging punishment ever meted out to a participating nation.

Now leading US skiers Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin have joined the chorus of those backing the International Olympic Committee’s decision to ban the country from next year’s Winter Olympics.

“Doping and what the Russians did is just not acceptable,” Vonn, the most decorated American skier in history, told CNN’s Alpine Edge. “We have to make that clear and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

“I don’t question the integrity of the Olympic Games as much as the specific nations that host the Games,” said Shiffrin, referring to Russia, which staged the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.

“If you’re working with a nation who’s willing to go to those ends to have a successful Olympics, that’s really sad for me,” added the 22-year-old Shiffrin, who is the Olympic slalom champion and winner of the last three slalom World Championships.

‘Right thing’

Having consistently denied the allegations of a state-backed doping campaign, Russia was banned from PyeongChang 2018 on Tuesday over the country’s “systemic manipulation” of the rules, following a 17-month investigation carried out by the former president of Switzerland, Samuel Schmid.

Russian athletes who can incontrovertibly prove that they are untainted by doping will be “invited” to compete at February’s Winter Games but won’t be allowed to display any national symbols – something President Vladimir Putin has previously said would be an humiliation.

They’ll instead compete under the name “Olympic Athlete from Russia” (OAR), and the Olympic anthem will be played at any medal ceremonies for Russian athletes.

“I mean, if even a small percentage of that is true, I would think the IOC did the right thing,” said Vonn, telling CNN she was “not surprised” to learn of the lengths Russia went to in pursuit of victory,

“Obviously there are potential athletes that are clean but they have the option now to compete under a neutral flag, which I think is a good solution.”

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‘Not about the medals’

As the scandal rumbles on, the Oswald Commission – headed by another Swiss, the IOC member Denis Oswald – is dealing with the specific cases and determining sanctions against individual athletes.

It has so far handed out lifetime bans to 25 Russian competitors since the start of November and stripped 11 medals, which means Russia has dropped from first in the Sochi medal table, to fourth behind Norway, Canada and the US.

Richard McLaren, whose reports into Russian doping provided much of the basis for Tuesday’s decision, told CNN that the scandal was a “sad commentary on sport,” but added that he was pleased his work had been confirmed by the IOC.

Putin spoke out against the ruling, telling reporters “it all looks like an absolutely staged and politically motivated decision.”

But for Vonn and Shiffrin, sport has always been about more than just winning and losing.

“When you’re dealing with corruption like that, you don’t expect it but at the same time it’s not surprising,” said Vonn. “Some people would do anything to win medals and bring home gold for their country. There are rules for a reason and some people just don’t want to follow them.”

“The premise of the Olympics is clean, friendly competition but intense and inspiring competition,” said Shiffrin. “I mean I know it’s about the medals but it’s not about the medals in a way.”

The world's greatest female ski racer Lindsey Vonn has officially retired from the sport after her final race at the World Championships in Are. Here's a look back at her glittering career.

She made her Olympic debut at Salt Lake City 2002 as a 17-year-old, finishing 32nd in slalom and sixth in the combined slalom/downhill event.

Lindsey Kildow -- as she was then before marrying fellow skier Thomas Vonn -- won her first World Cup race with victory in the downhill at Lake Louise, Canada, in 2004.

In 2005, Vonn signed with Red Bull and began working with a completely new coaching team. She seemed set for the start of something special.

Any momentum from the new deal was slowed during the 2006 Olympics in Italy, though. A fall in practice resulted in a short stay in hospital. She recovered in time to compete but could only manage seventh in the Super G and eighth in the downhill events.

However, Vonn quickly bounced back and won the first of three straight World Cup titles in 2008 at the age of 23.

Golden girl Vonn achieved her Olympic dreams in 2010. She won the Olympic downhill gold at Whistler and added bronze in the super-G.

Vonn added a fourth World Cup title in 2012, but is still behind Annemarie Moser-Proell's record of six overall crystal globes.

Vonn's public profile went galactic when she dated star golfer Tiger Woods for two years between 2013 and 2015.

In 2013, Vonn suffered an horrific crash at the World Championships in Austria. She underwent reconstructive knee surgery and began a long road to recovery. She attempted to return a year later, only to pull out of the 2014 Olympics after aggravating the injury again.

Injuries continued to hamper Vonn. She fractured her left knee in February 2016 in a crash during a World Cup super-G race in Soldeu, Andorra, but raced the combined event the next day before calling an end to her season.

Vonn worked hard to get back in time to challenge for gold medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The American left PyeongChang with a bronze medal in the downhill but insisted she was proud to have made it through her injuries.

Vonn announced the current ski World Cup season would be her last. She is already the most successful woman in World Cup history with 82 victories and was chasing down Ingemar Stenmark's overall World Cup record of 86 victories in her sights.

However, a knee injury from a training crash in November meant she couldn't start her season until January. On her debut in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, she was still struggling with knee pain.

After much soul-searching Vonn announced that she will retire from skiing after competing in the World Championships in Are, Sweden in February 2019. "My body is screaming at me to STOP and it's time for me to listen," she said.

In her opening race at the World Championships, Vonn suffered a heavy crash and careered into safety netting. She was eventually able to ski to the bottom and said she would still compete in the downhill to bring the curtain down on her glittering career.

Despite her damaged knees, Vonn was able to retire on a positive note. She battled back to win bronze in the downhill -- becoming the oldest woman to secure a medal at a world championships and the first female racer to medal at six world championships.

The American retired four wins short of equaling Stenmark's record of 86 World Cup wins and the Swedish great (left) was in Are to watch Vonn's final race. "I basically begged him to come here," Vonn said.

Lindsey Vonn: Greatest female skier retires

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Vonn, who has had to overcome a number of serious injuries throughout her career, missed the Games at Sochi when she failed to recover from a knee problem.

READ: Why Lindsey Vonn wants to race the men

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Well on her way to beating Ingemar Stenmark’s World Cup record of 86 victories, she’ll now aim to add to the downhill Olympic title she claimed in Vancouver back in 2010.

The PyeongChang Winter Olympics take place from 9-25 February 2018.

CNN’s Aimee Lewis and Lauren Said-Moorhouse contributed to this report