(ATR) Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov is said to have apologized to the IOC for the doping crisis in his country. Then it suspended the ROC, and with that, the IOC membership he’s held since 2013.
Whether he had any complicity in the outrageous scheme employed by Russia to escape the detection of performance enhancing drugs has not been proven. But the IOC had no choice but to quarantine the only organizations and individuals it had the legal authority to act against: a National Olympic Committee and an IOC member.
Zhukov, 61, former deputy to Vladimir Putin before Sochi won the 2014 Winter Olympics, rose to become the new ROC president after Russia’s middling performance at the Vancouver Olympics.
Zhuokov’s experience with Sochi and his geographic status made him the choice of IOC President Thomas Bach to lead the IOC Coordination Commission for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. But for now, as a suspended member, he’s been replaced as chair by Juan Antonio Samaranch.
Dmitry Chernyshenko, the CEO of Sochi 2014, has lost his place on the same IOC commission as the IOC purges connections with the now-tainted Games. Chernyshenko, who is CEO of KHL, the Russian professional hockey league, has been replaced by IOC member Ser Miang Ng of Singapore.
Zhukov and the ROC could be back by the closing ceremony of the 2018 Games, if the IOC notes progress in Russia. Despite the suspension, Zhukov could be one of the key figures negotiating the path to normalcy for the ROC.
No word yet on how the ROC will come up with the $15 million fine levied by the IOC.
IOC Membership Shuffle
After putting his nomination on ice at the IOC Session in September, Czech NOC President Jiri Kejval is ready for IOC nomination at the upcoming session in PyeongChang in February.
Originally nominated for the IOC Session in Lima this year, he put his nomination on hold while he dealt with some controversies involving finance issues with the NOC.
The IOC Session in South Korea will also be asked to move two members to different categories of membership. Pierre Beckers of Belgium and Ugur Erdener of Turkey, both NOC presidents, will be proposed to be re-confirmed as independent members. The change in status means their IOC membership won’t be linked to their NOC leadership.
That will allow both to serve until IOC retirement age of 70.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams says the experience of Beckers and Erdener are needed by the IOC. Erdener, 67, is a physician who heads the IOC Medical and Scientific Commission. While three years from IOC retirement, he could have his term extended,
Beckers, 57, is the chair of the IOC CoComm for Paris and the IOC Audit Committee. He is a numbers man, who comes from a long career running the global grocery giant Delhaize.
Written and reported in Lausanne by Ed Hula.
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