The German bobsled federation has banned driver Manuel Machata from racing for one year and fined him 8,000 dollars for lending his bobsled to Russia's Vladimir Zubkov, who won two gold medals with it at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Machata didn't qualify for the Olympics, so he lent his private sled to Zubkov for a fee.
The German bobsled federation says "the relatively hard punishment" for Machata should be seen as a "first step to defend national interests."
