The doping scandal engulfing world athletics and FIFA’s corruption crisis are to be among the issues discussed during the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board meeting in Lausanne from yesterday to tomorrow.
Good governance in sport is to top the agenda, with the worlds of athletics and soccer in turmoil just eight months to go before next year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
“The theme of good governance will be the first topic discussed Tuesday by the Executive Board, which will discuss the cases of the International Federation of Association Football [FIFA] and the International Association of Athletics Federations [IAAF],” an IOC spokesman said.
Photo: EPA
IOC president Thomas Bach and the 15-member executive committee are also to discuss the bombshell World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report that resulted in the IAAF suspending Russia following evidence of state-sponsored doping and large-scale corruption.
Russia — whose Russian Anti-Doping Agency and anti-doping laboratory have been suspended over the report — has vowed to retrieve its IAAF membership in time for its track and field athletes to compete in Rio next year.
The second part of WADA’s independent commission doping report, which promises explosive new revelations that could impact the IAAF itself, is expected early next year. In line with the IOC’s Agenda 2020 recommendations, Bach has called for the transfer of anti-doping controls to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, rather than by individual sports bodies or WADA.
This is to be one of the subjects discussed today as the IOC looks at how far it is toward the implementation of the Agenda 2020 recommendations.
Carlos Nuzman, president of the Rio committee and an IOC member, is also to give the organization a briefing on the progress of work for the Aug. 5 to Aug. 21 Games.
Also on the agenda are progress reports for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, with Bach concluding the IOC’s final meeting of the year with a news conference tomorrow at 1pm GMT.
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