IOC Wrap: Bach on Russian Doping, Weightlifting, Boxing

(ATR) The IOC leader says Russia is making progress in doping reforms but there are "still some reservations against the IOC" following its sanctions against the country.

Thomas Bach held talks with Vladimir Putin on Sunday on the sidelines of the World Cup, emerging confident of reviving dialogue with Russia in the wake of the state-sponsored doping scandal that rocked the Olympic Movement.

It’s the first time the pair have met since the McLaren Report’s bombshell revelations in July 2016 detailing systematic doping, which led to a partial ban of Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics.

Making his first comments to a press conference following his meeting with Putin, Bach summed up the mood in Russia in a briefing with reporters in Lausanne.

"There are still some reservations against the IOC. It’s not as obvious and harsh anymore as it was at the time we suspended the Russian NOC. I think this has calmed down," he said, referring to the ban imposed in December which was lifted just a few days after the close of the PyeongChang Olympics.

"With regard to the future, it’s a readiness to turn the page," he said. "They have accepted that they have served the toughest sanction the IOC can issue with suspension from the Games and then for the individual athletes a qualification selection procedure being governed by the IOC.

"Everyone knows in the history books there will be no Russia in Pyeongchang 2018 and we are ready to welcome them back to re-enter into a dialogue and to support the reforms they need to undertake and have started to undertake."

Bach added: "They have got the message that they need to change and they have shown this in different respects. You have a new NOC, you have a new RUSADA [not yet operational], you have new people in the sports ministry and actions having been undertaken which show a change in mindset."

Kuwait Acts to Lift Ban

IOC deputy director general Pere Miró presented a report to the executive board about the ongoing suspension of the NOC of Kuwait.

An IOC-led Olympic Movement delegation visited Kuwait last week and noted "positive exchanges" with the representatives of the Kuwaiti government and other stakeholders.

Clarifications are now being sought concerning the current sports law in Kuwait to ensure it complies with the Olympic Charter, and to agree on a roadmap that include fresh elections in the Kuwait national federations under the respective IFs' supervision and the country’s NOC.

Bach told reporters on Friday that if the IOC was satisfied with the sports law the ban would be provisionally lifted, opening the door to a full lifting of the suspension once the agreed roadmap has been fully implemented.

"Progress has been made. We can feel now the will to come to a solution also from the Kuwaiti side," he said.

Boxing, Weightlifting Advance Reforms

The IOC president spoke carefully about the two embattled federations – boxing dealing with governance and financial reforms, weightlifting implementing anti-doping changes.

Bach said there was "progress" at AIBA but questions remained financial issues, good governance measures and the upcoming elections.

Threatened with the axe from the Tokyo Games earlier this year, Bach said boxing’s inclusion in the 2020 Olympic "will greatly depend on the result of the AIBA congress later this year" where a new president is due to be elected and a raft of reforms put to a vote.

On weightlifting, Bach said the IF was making "good progress in efforts to fight against doping" and measures to encourage a change in cultural attitudes towards doping in the sport.

He praised the IWF’s qualification criteria for Tokyo 2020 which sees quota places linked to a country’s history of doping offenses: "We think this is a very effective and intelligent method because with this you do not have collective sanctioning but you have a very strong incentive and encouragement not only for the individual athletes but for the entire federation."

With some nations reportedly trying to get into Tokyo 2020 via a different qualification route, he emphasized: "This criteria is binding and final and cannot be changed anymore."

He said the IOC needed "to see more from the IWF" in the implementation of anti-doping changes before the sport’s provisional ban from the Paris 2024 Olympics was removed.

Written and reported by Mark Bissonin Lausanne

25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.