From Inside the Games
International Olympic Committee (IOC) veteran Richard Pound has launched a stinging attack on world governing bodies for only feeling pain in “their wallets” and not showing a genuine commitment to anti-doping problems.
Pound, speaking at the Play the Game conference in Eindhoven, also claimed that “nothing scared old folks [in sport] as much as athletes getting organised” before accusing the IOC of “fumbling the ball, pretty seriously” when dealing with Russian doping problems before the Rio 2016 Olympics.
The Canadian lawyer, founding President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the longest serving current IOC member, refrained from recommending how the Olympic Movement should sanction Russia before Pyeongchang 2018 until their two investigations are published next month.
He told delegates at the Van der Valk Hotel Eindhoven that he has had a “frank discussion” with IOC President Thomas Bach and agreed on “do my best to keep my mouth shut until then”.
But Pound added that he told Bach he would only do this on the condition that the German does not “stuff it up” when eventually making a decision.
It follows allegations of doping and sample tampering by Russian athletes at their home Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014 that were first published in the WADA-commissioned McLaren Report in July 2016.
Unlike the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and International Paralympic Committee, the IOC opted against a blanket suspension of Russia at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games following publication of the McLaren Report last year.
