IOC Members Back Russian Doping Decision as WADA Split Widens

(ATR) IOC members join Thomas Bach in defending the decision not to ban Russia, accusing WADA of failing to act soon enough to curb the scourge of doping.

At the IOC Session in Rio, the Russian doping scandal dominated discussions. Nearly two dozen members staged interventions following Bach’s powerful rebuttal of critics who claimed the IOC was soft on Russia.

In a vote, the congress backed the IOC executive board’s decision not to impose a blanket ban on Russia; only one was against, with no abstentions.

But it was Bach’s attack on the World Anti-Doping Agency and former WADA president Richard Pound’s sharp response that caused the biggest stir.

Russian NOC president Alexander Zhukov also weighed in with some critical remarks of his own about WADA’s handling of the doping scandal.

The IOC chief, as he had done at a press conference two days ago, abdicated any responsibility for the chaos around Russia’s participation at the Rio Games because of the fall-out from WADA’s state-sponsored doping revelations contained in Richard McLaren’s devastating report.

In an explosive address to the session, Bach effectively said the IOC had done its job to fight doping but WADA had failed in its remit to crack down on the problem in Russia when the issue surfaced two years ago. WADA is half funded by the IOC.

Sat just a few metres away at the IOC’s top table, WADA president Craig Reedie kept his counsel as he faced a barrage of criticism, from Bach and then members. He declined the opportunity to respond until his official WADA president’s address later on Tuesday.

Bach said the IOC had "no authority" about the failing of the anti-doping testing system and spoke of the deficiencies of WADA’s anti-doping program.

He fiercely defended the IOC executive board’s decision to leave it to international federations to rule on Russian athletes in the wake of the McLaren report, subject to the IOC’s eligibility rules decided on July 24.

Describing a blanket ban of Russia as "the nuclear option," Bach said "innocent athletes would have to be considered as collateral damage".

British IOC member Adam Pengilly, along with Pound the only other dissenting voice in the room to oppose the IOC’s doping ruling, described the Russian doping revelations as a "massive scale of fraud and deception".

Bach said a total ban on Russia was "completely out of proportion" to scale of Russia’s crimes, telling IOC members "the result is death and devastation. This is not what the Olympic Movement stands for.

"The Olympic Movement stands for life and the construction of a better future for and through sport."

He rejected the "insinuation" from critics – including athletes groups and national anti-doping organizations – that not advocating a blanket ban was weak. "We may disagree in how we get there. But we are all working towards the same goal for the protection of athletes. We all agree that we must never allow such a situation to happen again," Bach said.

Pound Fires Back

Pound has lashed out at the IOC’s reluctance to impose a total ban on Russia. The former head of WADA expressed concern about the future. He criticized Bach for not allowing a wider debate among the full IOC membership about such a landmark decision.

"If the IOC Sessions are nothing but sterile reading of reports of things already done, you don’t need a session," he said.

Bach restated the necessity for a "more robust and more efficient anti-doping system". Proposals will be made at the Olympic Summit in October, which will be discussed at an extraordinary WADA congress in 2017. The IOC is aiming to make doping testing and sanctioning independent from sports organizations.

Bach said "the IOC has lived up to its responsibility", talking about extensive pre-Games testing regime and the "most comprehensive reanalysis program ever" of the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 doping samples. So far nearly 100 athletes have been caught doping, with more test results still to come.

The IOC president said he expected Russia to deliver on its promise to complete a restructuring of its anti-doping system.

"If we all contribute in this spirit then this painful situation can become a moment of catharis in the fight against doping," he said, noting that there were still "many far reaching decisions" to make following the completion of McLaren’s report, which could affect the winter federations.

An extraordinary IOC session may be convened to make further rulings in relation to the McLaren report, he confirmed.

Russian NOC Reacts

NOC chief Alexander Zhukov, said the IOC had made a "very fair" decision on the eligibility of Russian athletes to compete in Rio.

Zhukov applauded the IOC for resisting a blanket ban under enormous pressure from "certain countries" and NADOs. He said the fundamental principles and basic human rights of the Olympic Movement and thte integrity iof the Olympic family "are all under attack".

Saying the findings of the McLaren report were "really shocking", he said the charges against Russia required thorough investigation and Russia was ready to assist to "establish the truth".

IOC Members Reaction

Larry Probst – the U.S. member said there was no perfect solution to the Russian doping crisis. "Attributing the problem to international politics is ignoring the problem. We have a doping problem. It’s not just Russia. The current system is broken and we need to fix the problem."

Angela Ruggiero – the new head of the IOC Athletes Commission said the IOC’s ruling on Russia had met with mixed reviews from athletes internationally. She fully supported a shake-up of the current anti-doping system. "Changes and reforms are needed. "We are all in it to have the same goal, to overhaul the system and restore credibility."

Denis Oswald - The Swiss IOC member said the IOC EB "had no other option from a legal point of view. We would have violated some basic legal principles."

Richard Peterkin of St Lucia – Peterkin admitted he wasn’t entirely sure the IOC had made the right decision, especially around the case of Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova. He suggested the IOC should have made an exception to its rule to ban any Russian from Rio with a doping conviction.

Reported by Mark Bissonin Rio de Janeiro

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