St Moritz signals Bach has lost plot

ChriStoph harting won arguably the most surprising gold medal of the 2016 olympics. A German discus thrower who came eighth in the 2015 World Championships and fourth in the 2016 European Championships, he threw a remarkable 68.37 metres to shatter his personal best and match the achievement of his brother, robert, who won gold in London in 2012. With that history, one would expect the hartings to be brimming with olympic spirit. Not exactly.

Christoph predicted the Games could be dead by 2040. robert described ioC president thomas Bach as ‘part of the doping system, not the anti-doping system’. As Bach is also German their words have considerable resonance. ‘Bach should resign, so that the ioC again gets a face which stands for clean sport and consistent action,’ said Christoph. ‘the olympic idea has suffered damage and lost its glamour and credibility.’

he has a point. At the same time as Christoph was giving his interview to German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost, the citizens of Swiss canton Graubunden were voting emphatically against bidding for the 2026 Wi nt e r olympics. this would be unexceptional if Graubunden did not house one of the most famous snow resorts in the world: St Moritz.

Let’s face it, if St Moritz doesn’t care for olympic skiing — and more than 60 per cent did not — who does? imagine the publicity for a part of the world built on tourism — but even that was not enough to disregard the olympic stain.

Bach must understand the damage weak-willed treatment of russia’s drug cheats has done to his regime. While it is led by a man without credibility, what standing in any community can the olympic movement have?