Rio de Janeiro: Olympics chief Thomas Bach called for a complete overhaul of the global anti-doping system on Tuesday after revelations of state-backed cheating by Russian Federation rocked preparations for the Rio Games.
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No country as a whole has ever been barred from the games for doping, and Russian Federation is a major force in the Olympic movement as well as a sports powerhouse.
The gloves are off between the parents of a might mess in anti-doping: Olympic bosses, the ma and pa of the World Anti-Doping Agency has stood up in court, shouted “nothing to do with us” and then placed its child in the dock with a a slap to boot.
“What is therefore not acceptable is the insinuation by some proponents of this “nuclear option” that anyone who does not share their opinion is not fighting against doping”, he added. “This is why the International Olympic Committee executive board granted this right to the Russian athletes”.
Bach and WADA have been at odds since the agency publicly recommended that the IOC impose a total ban on Russia’s Rio Olympic team after McLaren’s report detailing state-directed doping in more than two dozen winter and summer sports.
“We can not deprive an athlete of the human right to be given the opportunity to prove his or her innocence”.
He said Russian Federation had created a doping system to secure victory at home Olympics to bounce back after a disappointing performance in Vancouver, reports Tass.
“We are not responsible for the supervision of doping laboratories”.
Former Olympic ice hockey gold medalist Angela Ruggiero was elected as chair of the IOC’s athletes’ commission on Monday, a position which automatically gives her a seat on the policy-making board.
Wada had received information from whistleblowers a few years ago but did not act quickly.
THE CHIEF spokesman for the Rio Olympics said, “I can guarantee in the name of Rio 2016 that the athletes can compete in safety”.
“The failure to investigate serious and credible allegations more swiftly has left the sports movement.in a very hard position facing incredibly hard decisions in an impossible timeframe”, said Argentina’s International Olympic Committee member Gerardo Werthein.
“At times WADA has seemed to be more interested in publicity and self-promotion rather than doing its job as a regulator, acting with transparency, and looking after the best interest of clean athletes”, Werthein told the meeting.
WADA acknowledged that the McLaren report had been “destabilising for a number of organisations” but said it had been published as quickly as possible.
WADA and its president, Craig Reedie, urged the International Olympic Committee to consider a total ban on Russian Federation.
“I would like to think not all the system is broken, that part of the system is broken, and we should start to identify those parts that need full attention”, he said.
The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) will operate a promotion center named “PyeongChang 2018 House in Rio” on Copacabana Beach, one of the main tourist destinations here, during the August 5-21 Summer Games.
“If there was to be one exception, it should have been her”, Richard Peterkin of St. Lucia said.
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The IOC said the “provisional measures” would apply until December 31, and be reviewed by the IOC that month.
