IOC to continue fight for lifetime ban for doping athletes

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is to continue its push for life bans for athletes who care caught doping.

Director of Communications for the IOC, Mark Adams who disclosed this at a press briefing in Rio said the Committee’s president Thomas Bach who has been advocating the ban for years, “still believes in lifetime bans and would like to push towards that”.

Previous attempts by the IOC to implement the ban, Adams noted have been unsuccessful because the “Court of Arbitration for Sports didn’t want to be as tough as us and we understand that there are legal reasons”.

He however assured that the Committee will deliberate further on the issue.

“I think we start to discuss after these Games possibilities that can be done but obviously it has to be done in a legal framework that is acceptable otherwise you will see that we will be told by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that is not acceptable. So, yes the president remains very firm in his belief that that’s something we would like to push towards. Whether it’s achievable in the legal framework we will have to see.”

The comments follow reports on Saturday that Russia’s sole track and field competitor Darya Klishina has been suspended from the games following a withdrawal of her eligibility status by the IAAF.

The 25-year-old long jumper who was scheduled to compete on Wednesday August 17 was cleared after she proved that she was not involved in the state-sponsored doping system and had been subjected to drug tests outside Russia.

But the Reuters news agency reports that a source has disclosed that Klishina’s suspension followed new evidence which was related to the McLaren report.

Apart from the doping scandal which dogged the commencement of the games, two athletes in Rio – Chinese swimmer Chen Xinyi and Bulgarian steeplechaser Silvia Danekova – have tested positive for banned substances.

The Xinhua news agency broke the story about Chen’s failed test citing the Chinese Swimming Association which said the 18-year-old had failed a test for hydrochlorothiazide. The banned substance is used to spur weight loss and cover up for the presence of other illegal drugs by diluting urine.

Meanwhile, another Chinese swimmer Sun Yang and Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova who have recently served suspensions for doping were branded drug cheats by their Australian and American colleagues.

But the name callings and in-fighting by athletes has not been limited to the pool. Hope Solo, goalkeeper of the US women’s football team is also reported to have called Sweden cowards after they beat the US in the quarter-final game at the ongoing Olympics.

“If those were the comments then it is disappointing but we can only keep talking about what we hope, how we hope athletes will treat each other and the Olympic values and people are free to say those things. We wouldn’t stop their right to express their opinion,” said the IOC’s Director of Communications, Mark Adams.

The IOC is meanwhile said to have launched disciplinary proceedings after Egyptian judoka El Shehaby refused to shake hands with his Israeli opponent Or Sasson after he was defeated in his first-round fight on Friday.

His action drew loud jeers from the crowd as judoka typically shake hands or take a bow at the beginning and end of a match as a sign of respect.