To doping, Thomas Bach shows its teeth

Paris, May 18, 2016: This time the situation is serious. And the shock could make its share of victims. With Thomas Bach battalion head, the IOC goes to war against doping. For real. Without fear effects.

First salvo, Tuesday, May 17, with the announcement by the Olympic organization to a new time bomb-like: 31 athletes were guilty of doping, after the re-analysis of their samples at the Beijing Games in 2008 . They belong to 12 countries have competed in 6 different sports. No names filtered. It will take only the offending athletes or federations concerned may make public the identities of cheaters.

Second attack, signed Thomas Bach himself, this Wednesday, May 18 in the French daily Le Monde: a forum IOC president raises his voice and shows his teeth. “Tens of doped athletes are likely to be prevented from participating in the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games,” he argues. After trying again, with more sophisticated technologies, samples of the 2008 Games, the IOC has addressed those in London 2012. A total of 250 samples, the results of the re-analysis should be known to within a week. A new earthquake in perspective.

Launched as a shell, Thomas Bach delivered a layer that same day, at lunchtime, during a telephone press conference. From Lausanne, he repeated untiringly the new code of conduct IOC: a policy of “zero tolerance” against individuals found to doping, athletes or coaches, doctors and leaders.

In Focus: Russia. A survey of the New York Times , fueled by revelations of a former leader of the Russian anti-doping laboratory, reported numerous athletes doped Sochi Games, many Olympic medalists. Thomas Bach explained, the IOC has expressly asked WADA to investigate these accusations. He insists: “The results of the survey WADA strongly influence the nature of the participation of Russian athletes at the Rio Games. If the existence of an organized contaminating other sports system was proven, international federations and the IOC should have a difficult decision to make, between collective responsibility and individual justice. “

Prudent, the IOC President will not be too far in advance his pawns, but suggests that whole federations could be suspended. In Le Monde , he also said that he could be asked the athletes themselves to demonstrate their honesty, a proposal that would send to oblivion sacrosanct presumption of innocence. According to Thomas Bach, the sanctions could be sporting (a life ban) or financial. They could touch the athlete and his entourage.

One question remains: Russia will she present at the Rio Games? In response, the IOC and its president kicking into touch. “The case is in the hands of WADA, said the German leader. We make our decisions based on our specific facts. We must respect the procedure. “Thomas Bach, however, said he had received the Russian National Olympic Committee promised to cooperate fully and actively in the AMA survey. He also assured that he had no knowledge of a US Department of the ongoing investigation of Justice in the Russian sports and the Sochi Games.

The only certainty there shall be no redistribution of medals ceremony for the Rio Games 2016. In the event that an athlete medalist at Beijing 2008 and London 2012 would be guilty of doping after the new procedure of analysis samples of the time, his name would be removed from the record. “But we would then conduct a re-analysis of samples of the athlete supposed to get his medal,” said Thomas Bach. The domino effect in Olympic release.