MOSCOW — Most Russian athletes want to go to next year's Winter Olympic Games even though they would have to compete as neutrals, an official of the country's Olympic committee said on Monday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week banned Russia from the Games due to take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February, citing evidence of an "unprecedented systematic manipulation" of the anti-doping system. But it left the door open for clean athletes to compete as neutrals.

"A majority of athletes want to take part in the Olympics," Olympic fencer Sofya Velikaya, who chairs the Russian Olympic Committee's (ROC) athletes' commission, told reporters. "The Russian Olympic Committee supports the opinion of the athletes who will decide to participate and also respects the decision of those who decide not to go."

Velikaya said no athlete questioned by the ROC had voiced plans to boycott the Games. "Everyone is preparing and hoping to compete," she said.

President Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia would not prevent its athletes from competing, damping down calls from some for a boycott. He also reiterated Russia's insistence that there was no state-sponsored doping system in the country.

Russian Olympic authorities are expected to spell out their response to the IOC ban following a meeting on Tuesday. In the weeks ahead of the IOC ban, more than 20 Russian athletes who competed at the 2014 Sochi Games were banned for life from the Olympics for allegedly violating anti-doping rules.

Russia's athletics federation, Paralympic Committee and anti-doping agency RUSADA remain suspended over doping scandals.

USOC says all systems go for Pyeongchang

The United States Olympic Committee said it will send a full team to compete at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in February despite mixed messages this week from the White House about whether the US would participate.

UN Ambassador Nikki Haley had said it was an "open question" as to whether the US would travel to South Korea amid weapons tests by its neighbor North Korea and White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters no official decision had been made before clarifying in a tweet that the "US looks forward to participating."

"I think there was just some miscommunication there rather than anything intended to be substantive," USOC CEO Scott Blackmun told reporters following a board meeting in New York.

"We are going to take a team to Pyeongchang unless it's physically impossible or legally impossible to do that," he said. "We are 100 percent committed to our athletes on that."

Blackmun said no Olympic sponsor or athlete had raised concerns about the safety of travelling to South Korea despite growing tensions between the US and North Korea. "We are going to be bringing a team and showing up like 100 other nations," he said. The Pyeongchang Games will take place from Feb. 9-25. — Reuters