Russia’s Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov has promised to support the athletes of his country a few hours before the historic decision of the IOC in the state doping scandal.
At the same time, the member of the government criticized the IOC’s trial on Tuesday evening over the exclusion of Russia from the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang (9th place). till 25. February).
“This is indeed a special case. The international sports system and the Olympic legislation have proved to be very complicated and contradictory, because in similar cases completely different decisions are made and there are no common criteria,”said Kolobkov on Tuesday according to the news agency Tass.
All we can do is go to court and protect the interests of our people, whom we consider champions,”said the minister. The Oswald Commission of the IOC has so far banned 25 Russian athletes who participated in the doping system at the Sochi Winter Games in 2014 from participating in the Olympic Games for life.
Russia has its own delegation in Lausanne and will first be informed of the decision. The executive meeting will take place in the IOC’s headquarters in Lausanne. At noon, the delegation of the giant empire was given the opportunity to make a statement.
IOC member Alexander Zhukov, chairman of the Russian National Olympic Committee, led the delegation. In addition, her honorary IOC member Witali Smirnow, most recently chairman of the Anti-Doping Commission set up by head of state Vladimir Putin, and Yevgeniya Medvedeva, the 18-year-old two-time figure skating world champion, are also members.
IOC President Thomas Bach will announce the decision this evening (19.30 hrs). Prior to this, former Swiss Federal Councillor Samuel Schmid will present the results of his commission to the 14-member executive. Schmid investigated the extent to which Russian authorities were involved in the doping scandal.
Several penalties are conceivable. Firstly, Russia could be excluded from the games. It is also possible that Russia will have to compete in the games under a neutral flag and that the top international associations will decide which athletes are free from doping and are allowed to compete. A fine of USD 100 million is also under discussion.