Total Russia ban would’ve been ‘nuclear option’
Print Edition
IOC President Thomas Bach spoke out against the “nuclear option” of imposing a complete ban on Russian athletes for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, prompting a debate that laid much of the blame for the scandal on global anti-doping authorities.
Bach opened the International Olympic Committee’s three-day general assembly yesterday by seeking formal backing from the full membership of the executive board’s handling of the Russian doping scandal.
Despite evidence of a state-run doping program in Russia, the IOC board rejected calls for a total ban and left it to international sports federations to decide on the entry of individual Russian athletes for the games, which open on Friday.
Bach again pointed blame at the World Anti-Doping Agency for failing to act sooner on evidence of state-backed doping in Russia, and said it would be wrong to make individual athletes “collateral damage” for the wrongdoing of their government.
“Leaving aside that such a comparison is completely out of any proportion when it comes to the rules of sport, let us just for a moment consider the consequences of a ‘nuclear option’,” he said. “The result is death and devastation. This is not what the Olympic movement stands for. The cynical ‘collateral damage’ approach is not what the Olympic movement stands for.
“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.
The IOC has been roundly criticized by many anti-doping bodies, athletes’ groups and Western media for not applying a complete ban on the Russian team. Pressure for a full ban grew after WADA investigator Richard McLaren issued a report accusing Russia’s sports ministry of orchestrating a vast doping conspiracy involving athletes across more than two dozen summer and winter Olympic sports.
“Natural justice does not allow us to deprive a human being of the right to prove their innocence. This is why the IOC executive board granted this right to the Russian athletes.”
Underlining the split between Olympic leaders and anti-doping officials, Bach said it was WADA, not the IOC, that was responsible for doping problems in Russia. “It is not the IOC that is responsible for the accreditation and supervision of anti-doping laboratories. It is not the IOC which can be held responsible for alleged corruption between the leadership of an international federation and a national member federation to cover up doping.”
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