IOC President Thomas Bach said that a blanket ban on Russia at the Rio de Janeiro Games "would have had devastating consequences," according to Karolos Grohmann of REUTERS. The IOC opted not to ban all Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics "after revelations of a wide state-backed doping programme across many sports." Bach, speaking at the IOC session, said that preventing clean athletes from competing and treating them as "collateral damage" would have been wrong. Bach: "This blanket ban of the Russian Olympic Committee has been called by some the 'nuclear option' and the innocent athletes would have to be considered as collateral damage. Leaving aside that such a comparison is completely out of any proportion when it comes to the rules of sport, let us just for a moment consider the consequences of a 'nuclear option.' The result is death and devastation. ... The cynical 'collateral damage approach' is not what the Olympic Movement stands for" (REUTERS, 8/2). In a separate piece, Grohmann reported Bach said on the opening of his organization's session in the city that the Olympics had "changed Rio for the better." He said, "Rio de Janeiro would not be where it is today, without the Olympic Games as a catalyst. History will talk about a Rio de Janeiro before the Olympic Games and a much better Rio de Janeiro after the Olympic Games." Bach conceded organizers had "undergone a tough seven years of preparation since the city was awarded the games." He said, "It has been a long and testing journey to get to this point. It is no exaggeration to say that the Brazilians have been living through extraordinary times" (REUTERS, 8/1). In N.Y., Rebecca R. Ruiz reported fallout from the Russian doping scandal has "provoked a public dispute among global sports officials, further fueling a controversy that has threatened to overshadow the start of the Rio Games this week." Bach blamed WADA "for mishandling accusations that Russia had executed an elaborate cheating scheme dating back years." WADA responded publicly on Monday, "defending itself in a statement." The Olympic committee and WADA, which share top officials, "rarely make grievances public." Former IOC exec board member and WADA President Richard Pound said, "They're trying to deflect all of this by pointing fingers at WADA. This could have easily been avoided if the IOC had followed WADA's recommendation to bar Russia. It was a golf ball sitting up on there on a tee ready to be hit" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/1).
