German biathlon coach Wolfgang Pichler has once again voiced strong criticism of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following his expulsion for the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang:”I have no chance of defending myself before the IOC. I expect to be heard. This has nothing to do with democracy,”said the 62-year-old, currently coach of the Swedish national team, on the fringes of the World Cup in Ruhpolding.
The fact that his suspension before the winter games in South Korea (9. till 25. I’m fighting for my name, but that’s complicated. The situation looks bad to me. I don’t see myself in Pyeongchang,”he said on Friday. It is “hard to be locked up for something you can’t do anything for. I didn’t know or do anything.”
The reason for the Ruhpoldinger’s ban on the Olympics is his former occupation from 2011 to 2014 as coach of the Russian women Olga Saizewa, Olga Wiluchina and Jana Romanowa, who were banned for life by the IOC. But there is “no proof that athletes were doped during my tenure”, said Pichler.
In this regard, he also attacked Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, leniency witness in the Russian state doping scandal:”He claims that I must have known about the doping system. It’s character assassination. I want to know how he can prove it. I want facts.”
Pichler sees the fact that Russia has got off lightly, but athletes and coaches have been punished to some extent, as part of a deal between the IOC and the Russian state. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and IOC President Thomas Bach had “negotiated”, he said.
The two-time Olympic champion Saizewa and her two relay colleagues won silver at the 2014 Sochi Games. The Oswald Commission of the IOC blocked them and more than 30 other Russian Olympic participants from 2014 in the course of the manipulation and doping scandal surrounding host Russia.
During the Olympic Games, Pichler does not expect any problems for the Swedish team despite his suspension:”This will not have any effect. We will continue to work the same way. I’m gonna keep running this place on Skype.”