Just ahead of the Summer Olympics in Rio – and facing a flurry of headlines that range from athlete safety to doping – IOC President Thomas Bach addressed the media on Sunday to address the global event. Over the weekend, the organization announced plans to delegate the final say on the acceptance of entries of Russian athletes to a Review Panel that will be composed of three IOC Executive Board Members: Ugur Erdener, Claudia Bokel and Juan Antonio Samaranch.
“In these difficult decisions you will never have a 100% majority. These are complicated and complex questions on the legal and moral side,” he said, noting that 4,500 urine tests and a thousand blood tests would be conducted during the event. “What you should not forget is the broad support that the IOC executive board has for this decision. The McLaren report revealed a system which is an attack on our Games and an attack on our values but you cannot deny the right of athletes to attempt to prove their innocence.”
