Rio de Janeiro, July 31: A three-member International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board panel has been selected to make final decisions on the eligibility of all Russian athletes competing at Rio Games, starting on August 5.
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Thomas Bach’s been speaking after the organisation decided against banning all of the country’s competitors from Rio, despite a report finding evidence of state-sponsored cheating.
The scandal has led to dozens of Russian athletes being banned from the Olympics, which begin on Friday, including essentially the entire track-and-field team.
The three-person panel is made up of Ugur Erdener, president of World Archery and head of the IOC medical and scientific commission, Claudia Bokel of the IOC athletes commission, and Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., son of the ex-IOC president of the same name.
RIO DE JANEIRO The World Anti-Doping Agency was told it needed to restore its reputation as the war of words over the timing of its response to the Russian doping scandal escalated on Tuesday.
They expressed disappointment following the IOC’s decision to allow some Russians to compete and accused the Games’ ruling body of lacking the leadership and courage to punish Russia.
Bach also defended the IOC’s ban of whistleblower Yulia Stepanova from the Games.
Wada president Craig Reedie, who called for a complete ban on Russian athletes in Rio, is to address the International Olympic Committee meeting on Sunday.
“If this system was applied like this, it’s an attack on everything we want to represent”, he said.
Zhukov criticized the IAAF for banning Russia’s track and field team and took a swipe at WADA, saying the same agency which sought a complete ban is the same one that had supervision over Russia’s anti-doping agency and doping lab.
But without detracting in any way from his gesture, the complex web of motivations underpinning any such decision might have been influenced for him by the fact that he knows, as an Athletes’ Commission member elected in 2010, he nearly certainly has only two more years as an International Olympic Committee member.
On the IOC’s overall efforts to protect clean athletes in the run-up to the Games, Bach referred to the targeted pre-testing programme in which 2,200 athletes were selected and also hailed what he said was “the most comprehensive re-analysis programme” for athletes who competed in the Beijing and London Games. “Is it possible to take an athlete and say, ‘Because your government has done something wrong, you automatically are out?’ This would not be justifiable, neither on a moral ground, not to speak on a legal ground”.
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Bach also gave an upbeat assessment of Rio’s readiness for the games. “There will be, as always, some late challenges. We are looking forward to great Games”. For the protection of AP and its licensors, content may not be copied, altered or redistributed in any form. Please see our terms of service for more information.
