Tarpischev, President of the Russian Tennis Federation and an IOC member since 1994, referred to the American siblings, who have collectively won 25 Grand Slam singles titles, as the "Williams brothers" on a Russian television chat show.

The Russian, currently part of the IOC Entourage Commission, dealing with matters concerning relationships between athletes, coaches, managers, sponsors and all other stakeholders that support athletes, has claimed the comment was "taken out of context" and made "without malicious intent".

But he has already been fined $25,000 (£15,500/€20,000) by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and suspended for a year.

Younger sister and world number one Serena has since described the comments as both "sexist" and "racist", adding that they "were in a way bullying".

Serena Williams has hit out remarks by IOC member Shamiil Tarpischev as being "sexist" and "racist"  and he has now been asked to explain by the Ethics Commission ©Getty Images

A spokesman for the IOC has now confirmed that the organisation's Ethics Commission has officially made contact with Tarpischev to seek his comments on the matter.

It remains to be seen whether further action will be taken, or if his apology has been accepted by the Commission, chaired by Youssoupha Ndiaye of Senegal.

Tarpischev's comments were not discussed by the IOC's ruling Executive Board at its meeting in Montreux on Wednesday and Thursday (October 22 and 23). 

The situation regarding Athens 2004 taekwondo gold medalist and IOC member Moon Dae-sung, who earlier this month failed in a court in Seoul to overturn a decision to find him guilty plagiarising his doctoral thesis, was also not discussed by the Executive Board. 

It is widely expected that his case will be re-opened by the Ethics Commission. 

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