International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has called for a life ban from the Olympic Games for all figures proven to be involved in the manipulation of doping samples. The call which came as part of the German’s most clear condemnation of Russia since the allegations of state sponsored doping at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games surfaced in May. The IOC claim to still be unaware of the findings of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-commissioned investigation by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, which was unveiled in London Friday.
As such, Bach said he “cannot speculate” before offering a “private opinion” in which he compared the case with the lifetime bans an IOC Disciplinary Commission he headed gave to six Austrian biathletes and cross-country skiers found guilty of attempted blood doping at Turin 2006. “If, for instance, you would have an athlete being part of such a manipulation and benefiting in the Olympic Games, my consequences would not differ from the ones we took under my chair in the Disciplinary Commission concerning the Austrian athletes in the time of Turin,”
he said. “If an athlete or an official would be part of such a system, I would not like to see the person again at any Olympic Games in whatever function. Not as an athlete, as a coach or as an official. This, for me, would represent such aggravated circumstances. For me the logical consequence would be a life ban from the Olympic Games,” he stressed.
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