WADA, which was created by the International Olympic Committee in 1999 to lead the anti-doping fight, and receives half of its funding from the International Olympic Committee, issued a long statement defending itself.
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The IOC President told assembled dignitaries that the decision not to try to implement a blanket ban on Russian athletes at Rio 2016 was “about justice”.
Russians who have been banned so far include the 67 track and field athletes barred as a whole by the IAAF, and more than 30 others who have failed to meet the IOC’s new eligibility criteria.
Bach’s condemnation of WADA escalates a feud between the Olympics and anti-doping bodies which has broken out in the final days before the Rio Games. Some have filed appeals against their bans. “Imagine if we had not taken a decision, what limbo we would be in then”.
“We need to do a lot more to show that we really do care about fair play, honest competition and clean athletes”, he said.
“We’re sure that we are going to have some great Olympic Games Brazilian style”, Bach told the hundreds of reporters from around the world who are in Rio to cover the Games, which start on August 5.
On Sunday, Bach criticised WADA for the timing of the McLaren report, and also its oversight of Russia’s anti-doping laboratories.
McLaren’s report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said there was a state-organised doping scheme in Russian Federation, with the secret service helping the sports ministry to manipulate samples at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and other major events in Russian Federation.
“If proven true, such a contemptuous system of doping is an unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport and on the Olympic Games”, Bach said.
Saturday’s meeting came less than a week after the International Olympic Committee board decided not to ban Russia’s entire team from the games because of state-sponsored doping.
Zhukov also took a swipe at WADA.
“The IOC is not responsible for the fact that different information was offered to Wada a couple of years ago was not followed up”.
“Why should WADA not be responsible for the violations made by the anti-doping labs it has accredited?” he said.
The WADA press conference had been due to take place at the Main Press Centre in the Olympic Park at 1530 local time on Thursday, a day before the Games’ opening ceremony.
Swimmer Yulia Efimova became the third Russian swimmer to challenge her Rio Olympics ban.
“We have been informed yesterday by the organizing committee that they are still working on a balanced budget”, Bach said. The IOC hails athletes and feasts off their endeavours – yet when it comes to doing right by them it fails time and time again.
But Bach reiterated his position that it would be wrong to collectively sanction all Russian athletes because it would punish some who had no links to doping.
“Therefore, the IOC Executive Board had to reverse the presumption of innocence for Russian athletes and to make him or her bear the collective responsibility for the alleged failures of the government”, the IOC president said.
“I haven’t been talking to any Russian government official since the publication of the McLaren report and not even in the days or weeks preceding it”, he said.
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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.
