But Bach, speaking at a press conference following the IOC’s executive board meeting, denied that the organisation’s credibility had been damaged by the situation.
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Asked how damaging the situation is, Bach replied: “I don’t think that this, in the end, will be damaging because people will realize we have to take this decision now”. I trust people will realise the hard situation we are in.
IOC President Thomas Bach defended the decision not to ban Russia’s entire team from the Rio Games, declaring Sunday that the doping crisis won’t damage the Olympic body’s credibility and taking a swipe at global anti-doping officials for failing to act sooner against state-sponsored cheating in Russian Federation.
The Russian sports minister says all decisions on whether his country’s athletes can compete at the Rio Olympics will be made in the next 24 hours.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – The split between Olympic leaders and global anti-doping officials over the Russian doping scandal continues to escalate.
Anyone implicated in McLaren’s report would also be excluded, the International Olympic Committee said.
There were questions about problems at the Olympic village, pollution and security, though the eye-popping beauty and friendly atmosphere of Rio is apt to make numerous early worries seem overblown.
The IOC Executive Board discussed several issues, including doping among Russian athletes, and members’ concerns were all addressed, Bach said.
After the third or fourth Russian question, Bach exhausted of having his buttons pushed, and it was only then that his passion for justice and the law pushed through all the platitudes.
The rising German talent said in a statement that he did not feel “100 percent” in his last two matches in Washington and Toronto and that after consulting with his doctors and his team “we have decided that I have to withdraw from the Olympics”. These are complicated and complex questions on the legal and moral side. “This decision was endorsed by WADA’s Executive Committee and WADA’s Athlete Committee”, he continued.
“Because your government has manipulated the anti-doping system, you don’t even have the chance to show you are not part of this system?”
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach batted away criticism of his organization’s handling of the Russian doping scandal that has hijacked the lead-in to the Rio Games, characterizing systematic doping as an attack on the Olympics and the values it represents.
The World Anti-Doping Agency had recommended all Russian athletes be excluded from Rio 2016, but weightlifting and athletics are the only sports to have imposed a blanket ban on competitors from the country.
The IOC decision not to suspend Russian Federation “is not zero tolerance for doping, but for ethics”, Stepanov added. “We are looking forward to great Games”.
“It’s coming together”, Bach said.
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At Wednesday’s session, IOC may decide to include five new disciplines into the program of 2020 Summer Olympic Games that will be held in Tokyo.
