IOC chief wants clarity on doping
INTERNATIONA L Oly mpic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said yesterday he wants governments to do more to combat drugs in sport following the Russian doping scandal that rocked the buildup to the Rio Olympics.
Reinforcing his belief t hat the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) should be completely overhauled, Bach said it was time that governments played a more active role to help create a better and more transpa rent s y stem of t ack l i ng cheats.
“This has had to happen together with WADA because WADA, i n t he f ig ht aga i nst doping, is the platform,” Bach told t he Oly mpic Council of Asia General Assembly.
“We [also] need the commitment of government. Together with governments, we want to make WADA more efficient.”
The IOC and WADA have been at odds over their roles in dealing with anti-doping cases a f ter WADA led ca l ls for Russia to be banned from Rio following allegations of statebacked doping.
The IOC opted not to ban Russia, i nstead leav i ng t he decision to individual sports. But it believes a clearer system should be established, taking the key decisions away from spor ts a nd nat iona l federations.
“We t hink t he whole antidoping system should be independent from sports organisat ions wit h rega rd to test ing and sanctioning,” Bach said.
“The system has to be more transparent . . . we have to be ver y clear who is responsible for what: testing, compliance, sanctioning.”
“We owe this to the athletes so they know what is happening, and we owe it to the public to be fully transparent.”
While the IOC and WADA have been at loggerheads over the handling of Russia’s eligibilit y to compete in Rio, the IOC has convened a summit in Sw it zerla nd nex t mont h to look at the issue before a globa l dopi ng con ference i n 2017.
“You’re all aware of the challenges we had with regard to t he protect ion of clea n at hlete s before t he Su mmer Games in Rio de Janeiro,” Bach said.