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MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin called Friday for a new anti-doping commission to be created to shape Russias future strategy, as the country faces possible exclusion from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.Putins intervention came as former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev wrote to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach to oppose a blanket ban on the Russian team, saying that a collective sanction was unacceptable.Putin did not directly address allegations that Russian government officials helped to cover up hundreds of doping cases, but said the state was resolutely opposed to performance-enhancing drug use.In sport there is not and cannot be a place for any doping, Putin said. Sport must be clean, and an athletes health must be properly protected.He added there was a need to cooperate closely on doping with the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency, the latter of which welcomed Thursdays court ruling to uphold a ban on Russias scandal-hit track and field team.Putin told a meeting of Russias cabinet that the commission, under the direction of the Russian Olympic Committee, would provide rapid development and tough control for the effective realization of a national plan on the fight against doping.He added that the commission would be independent and would include Russians and foreigners in the fields of medicine, law and sports administration. He did not give a timescale for the commission to begin its work.Putin proposed 81-year-old Vitaly Smirnov, an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee member and a veteran of Russian and Soviet sports administration, to lead the panel.Such a commission should be headed by a person with an absolutely unimpeachable reputation, who has the trust and respect of the Olympic family, Putin said. There is such a person in our country and he is Vitaly Georgievich Smirnov.Smirnov once served as the Soviet Unions deputy sports minister and helped to organize the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.Smirnov, a former IOC vice president, was among five IOC members given a serious warning in 1999 for their role in the Salt Lake City bid scandal. A total of 10 members resigned or were expelled for receiving cash, gifts and other improper inducements during the citys winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games.Smirnov suggested in televised comments that the Russian doping scandal was a series of misunderstandings, and said the new commission would aim to eradicate performance-enhancing drug use from sport entirely. We will work to eliminate the problem, he said.In a rare intervention on sports matters, the 85-year-old Gorbachev wrote an open letter to Bach, saying a ban on the whole Russian team would unfairly punish clean athletes.I am worried and deeply upset by the possibility that in the case of a ban on Russian athletes competing in the Olympics, the innocent will be punished along with the guilty, he wrote in the letter, published on his website. 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Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings.NEW YORK -- Claressa Shields did a cartwheel in the ring after winning her second Olympic boxing gold medal in Rio, and shes not done being honored quite yet.Shields and water polo goaltender Ashleigh Johnson were recognized as Sportswomen of the Year at the Womens Sports Foundations annual dinner Wednesday night.Shields received the individual honor sporting an updated tattoo on her right biceps. The image has the Olympic rings with the words Rio and London, and she added Au, which stands for gold on the periodic table, after defending her middleweight title in Rio.The 21-year-old Shields will decide in the coming years if she wants to add `Tokyo for the 2020 Games.Im back in the gym, trying to figure out whats the best move next, Shields said. Im taking my time with that. I have a couple of different options. I can go pro or stay amateur for 2020.Johnson earned the award in the team competition. She had 51 saves in Rio, including nine in the final against Italy, when the Americans won their second consecutive Olympic gold medal.It was definitely a perfect ending to all the work and effort and sacrifices we made in the past 1 1/2 years, Johnson said. It was a big thing to carry on the legacy.A senior at Princeton, she hopes to lead the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament next spring. The water polo team just missed the tournament while the 6-foot-1 goalie was training for Rio.Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman won the Billie Jean King Contribution Award. King, who won 39 Grand Slam titles in her tennis career, created the Womens Sports Foundation in 1974. The foundation provides travel and training grants and community-based sports opportunities.Pakistani pro squash player Maria Toorpakai Wazir, who moved to Canada after receiving death threats fromm the Taliban, earned the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award.ddddddddddddShields became the first U.S. boxer to win consecutive gold medals in an Olympic sport that added women in 2012.Shes training and getting acclimated in her new place in Boynton Beach, Florida. The native of Flint, Michigan, spent the year before Rio at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She moved to Florida three weeks ago.I love it here, just got my furniture, she said. I like the vibe and the people down here. Theyre very family-oriented and this place just makes me happy.In the gold-medal match in Rio, Shields was faster and stronger than her taller Dutch opponent Nouchka Fontijn. Shields, who wore Superman knee socks, encouraged Fontijn in the fourth round to put up a better fight.I didnt mean to taunt her in the last round, Shields said. When I fight with my hands down, its more letting her think she has opportunities and a shot when she doesnt.Shields owns a 77-1 record, won two world championship titles and spars mostly against men.If you want to get the best out of me, you have to let me fully perform, she said. The guys cant hold back on me, so you end up going 100 percent. Theres a bunch of guys who wanted to prove a point, and they couldnt.Shields, who threw out the first pitch at a Detroit Tigers game last month, has a film about her life in the works through Universal Pictures. Barry Jenkins, the director of Moonlight, recently signed on to write the script.Im not done yet, Shields said. I have this hunger to do more and be bigger and be more known and get womens boxing on the course of being respected by everybody. ' ' '