Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has defended his organisation’s handling of the Russian doping crisis ahead of the Rio 2016 Games.
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The first step is being cleared by their individual sport’s global federation, the second is that they have never violated anti-doping rules, while the third, and final, hurdle, is that they must be approved by the three-member IOC commission, whose decision is to be based on the opinion of independent experts and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), he explained.
The panel is made up of Ugur Erdener, president of World Archery and head of the IOC medical and scientific commission, Claudia Bockel of the IOC athletes commission, and Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch.
With five days to go before the Games open there is still huge uncertainty about which Russian athletes will be able to compete in Rio.
The rest of the Olympic facilities and venues, including the much-criticized Guanabara Bay, the polluted body of water where the sailing competition will take place, are all being monitored thoroughly, Bach said.
Before the Games start, and then after the Olympic Games, there will be more time to carefully analyze the whole situation, and I would advise everybody… to study this situation with a certain distance and not under this moment of very emotional and passionate debates, ” Bach stressed.
Many anti-doping agencies, athletes and even senior International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound sharply criticised the decision, saying the International Olympic Committee lacked the leadership and courage to ban Russian Federation, hosts of the 2014 Sochi winter Games, outright – some have even called for Bach’s resignation.
“The IOC cannot be made responsible for the timing and reasons”, Bach said.
Those WADA recommendations accompanied the release of a scathing independent report citing widespread state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. More re-testing is expected to continue throughout and after the Rio Games. Some have filed appeals against their bans. “I trust people will realise the hard situation we are in”.
“It’s probably a kid’s dream, you grow up watching every four years … it would be cool to be a part of it”, Jesse Mendes, a professional surfer said.
American IOC members Larry Probst, Anita DeFrantz and Angela Ruggiero, along with U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun, will also be involved in LA’s bid promotion during the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Bach is known to enjoy a close relationship with President Putin and he was asked directly yesterday if his leniency was a result of pressure from his Russian political allies. “But the Brazilians have shown us that they are capable of dealing with these challenges, including in the short term”, the IOC chief said during his first appearance before the media at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Park’s Press Center.
‘There will, as always, be some last-minute challenges but we’ve seen that this can be addressed by our hosts’.
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In terms of general preparations for the Games Bach said: “It’s all coming together”.
