The IOC has taken a decision to exclude Russia from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang. However, for some athletes a back door remains open. IOC President Thomas Bach and his men also take a beating for this. Here are the international press comments.
The Washington Post:”The IOC’s shop-window decision to block Russia does not really affect the’ state’ in the word’ state doping’. The Russian leadership had already got what it wanted from the IOC, its compliant partner: the huge advertising campaign with the 2014 Winter Games. The IOC does not deserve congratulations on the decision. Just like WADA, it couldn’t even plug a mouse hole in the doping test laboratory in Sochi for one reason: Because it didn’t want to. We still wouldn’t know about the existence of this mouse hole if there was no Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov. The IOC has done nothing more than to ban a song and a piece of cloth in Pyeongchang. If the IOC really wanted to do something about state doping, it would not have given the Winter Games back then to a country that practically invented state doping. When do we know that the IOC is serious about doping? when it tears down the bureaucratic WADA working in its own pocket and starts a clean new beginning.”
The New York Times:”Despite the exaggerated rewriting that Russia had been excluded from the Winter Games, the country seems to have escaped quite lightly. The penalty would have been much harder if all Russian athletes had been banned from participating in Pyeongchang. The IOC has punished Russia, but left the door open for the athletes – perhaps too wide open. The athletes who will be licensed to compete will wear jerseys identifying them as Russian starters. The IOC is thus meeting the Russians in an attempt to prevent a boycott.”
USA Today:”Do you believe in miracles? Russia was finally punished for doping abuse. They did it, the IOC kicked the bums out. The most diabolical state doping machine of our time, the worst since the GDR, has finally received the punishment it deserves. In the long, confusing history of doping at the Olympics, this is a good time. How significant will it be? Imagine a medal ceremony in two months, a Russian athlete wins gold, but there is no anthem, no blue-red-white jersey. What visible embarrassment will this be for Russia? And what a wonderfully fine punishment for Vladimir Putin. It’s incredible, but the IOC has turned against one of its own.”
New York Post:”Hats off to the IOC for this decision. However, it had a lot of evidence against Russia even before the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, when it shied away from this move. Apparently, the protests of other nations and cheated athletes have now strongly influenced the actions of the IOC. After all, it has now sent Vladimir Putin the correct character.”
Los Angeles Times:”The IOC has taken decisive measures that it had previously avoided.”
Sport Express:”The sanction is harsh and somehow humiliating for Russia. It is very difficult to bear the accusations and punishments. But the fate of our athletes and the preservation of our place in the Olympic family is more important.”
Izvestia:”It won’t work without Russia. “Russian athletes will defend the honor of their motherland under any flag.”
The Telegraph:”Undoubtedly, Tuesday’s decision was a step in the right direction. But it was just that. Half job done. For the benefit of sportsmen and women worldwide, there should have been a complete exclusion of Russian athletes from international sport. How can you be neutral? These athletes are still Russians.”
Daily Mail:”It’s a step that makes the allegations of weak leadership at the IOC sound again.”
BBC Sport:”It’s a black day for the Russian sport. The punishment against Russia is unprecedented in Olympic history. The IOC has finally shown itself to be tough on the Russians.”
The Guardian:”For too long, the IOC has shown a strange aversion to punishing Russian doping. On Tuesday, the IOC had no choice but to act. The truth has overwhelmed restraint and defense.”
La Repubblica:”You pay for sins, even if you remove the stains. The IOC chooses the compromise, but also the punishment. He chooses the line of the World Athletics Federation. The individual athletes may not pay for the debts of an entire system. The IOC is more conservative than the Egyptian Pharaohs and always moves with the utmost caution. If he allows his executive committee to make certain decisions, it means that the rules have been severely violated.”
Corriere della Sera:”The maximum penalty, the total ban on the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, would perhaps have been less humiliating for Russia. A small contingent of Russian athletes will be admitted to the matches, but without a flag and without a national anthem. As of today, Putin has a problem: How can he save the World Cup without sacrificing his confidant Mutko?”
Gazzetta dello Sport:”The decision was basically expected, but it remains unprecedented. So far, no country has been banned from the Olympic Games because of doping. And never before had a sporting superpower like Russia been excluded. “The Olympic movement has suffered one of the most violent attacks in its 120-year history, with icy winds blowing over world sport.”
Corriere dello Sport:”Russia pays a high price for the blatant case of state doping. The sanctions also concern sporting and political leaders, who are banned from the Olympic Games for life. The IOC gives severe penalties, but at the same time makes it clear that clean athletes have nothing to fear.”
La Stampa:”A slap in the face for Russia. Deputy Prime Minister Mutko, the black soul of Russian sport, is banned for life. The IOC is thus sending an indirect message to FIFA. For almost two years now, international sport had been waiting for this punishment. The IOC testifies that Russia has attacked the integrity of the Olympic Games. This is the minimum punishment for an enormous scandal that has shaken world sport.”
The standard:”The result is the expected, and probably reasonable’ No, but’. The winter games don’t have to do without Russian athletes. However, Russia’s splendour – the hymn, the flag, but above all the unfortunate officials and guardians who were apparently charged with carrying out an almost unprecedentedly bold sport scam – is undesirable. Thomas Bach, who is by no means a Russian-speaking Chefolympier, was confronted with the fact that an increasing number of athletes from other nations spoke out against a collective punishment. And that winter games are secondary. Bach’s acid test follows in 2020, when Tokyo calls the world’s youth to summer games – also from a hopefully, hopefully, purified Russia”.
Kurier:”A total exclusion – it would be the first in the 121-year history of the Olympic Games due to doping offences – Russia was spared. The consequences of the IOC are far-reaching, but less dramatic than initially expected.” SWITZERLAND
Blick:”IOC President Bach pulls the emergency brake. Although the proofs have remained the same compared to a year ago, he and his IOC couldn’t help it. It’s a wise decision. By leaving a door open to the Russians with the neutral flag, the IOC’s legal area of attack is manageable with the accusation of clanlike character.”
Neue Zürcher Zeitung:”The IOC succeeds in squaring the circle in the Russian state doping affair. The judgment goes further than was commonly expected. And yet there remains a bad feeling. The verdict is only passed by former sports minister Mutko, who is leading the Russian Football Association and the organising committee of the next World Cup. He’s the chess piece toppling over.”
Tagesanzeiger:”Not even the biggest defenders of the IOC would have considered this decision by the guardians to be possible. As surprising as the decision comes, it is at the same time logical. As a contender against evil, the IOC now offers significantly less attacking surface than as a grafter of huge problems in its own sports family.”
NRC Handelsblad:”The IOC has not had the courage to completely exclude Russia. Doping fraud is proven, but the IOC chooses an intermediate route. Russia is not excluded, but clean sportsmen may participate. With this exception, the Council of the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA is ignored.”
De Volkskrant:”The IOC’s message could indeed have been more unfavourable for Russian athletes. The expulsion of the Russian team was the least the Russians could expect: in recent weeks, the IOC has shown that by imposing lifelong bans, it was certain of the existence of the Russian state doping program”.