(ATR) The IOC faces new criticism over its handling of the systematic doping program Russia orchestrated for its top athletes during the last few years.
The new wave of accusations comes from the filmmakers of "Icarus," the feature documentary movie that won an Oscar in its category on Sunday.
"Icarus" has played an important role in uncovering the Russian state-sponsored doping program. Its director, Bryan Fogel, had intended to make a film about the impact of self-administered doping on his amateur cycling efforts, but during the research he came across Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of Russia’s anti-doping program.
In the movie Rodchenkov offers his account of a massive government doping project in Russia alleging secret service involvement and describing an intricate program of sample-swapping and bottle-tampering during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
After receiving the Oscar, Fogel called the IOC president a "crook" and asked publicly for his resignation. Fogel claims that Thomas Bach had "betrayed clean athletes the world over by his failure to act decisively".
"Icarus" had such an impact that it initially forced the International Olympic Committee to ban Russia from the recent Winter Olympic games in South Korea. Later dozens of Russian athletes were permitted to compete in PyeongChang under the Olympic flag. Just days after the end of the PyeongChang Games, the IOC re-admitted Russia fully into its programs.
On Sunday, Fogel was relentless in his attacks against Bach.
"What he has shown to planet earth and any athlete that believes in the Olympic ideal is to not trust it, to not trust those words.
"Because if you can corroborate, prove and substantiate a fraud on this level that spans for decades, and then essentially give the country that committed that fraud a slap on the wrist, allow[ing] 160 of their athletes to compete at the Games – two of which were found doping."
"What a fraud, what a corrupt organization," Fogel said.
Russia has repeated its denials of Fogel’s accusations while the IOC has called the filmmaker’s comments "totally inappropriate".
Meanwhile Rodchenkov continues to live in hiding in the United States while last week a Russian warrant was issued for his arrest.
Written by Javier Monne
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