More Russians rush to appeal Rio suspensions
By Agence France-Presse in Rio de Janeiro (China Daily) Updated: 2016-08-02 08:01Priority
Russian anti-doping agency whistleblower Vitaly Stepanov said he first began passing information to WADA in 2010. Doping in Russian athletics was exposed in a German television documentary in 2014.
WADA has said it did not have the power to act on the information and insisted its priority was to protect Stepanov and his wife Yulia Stepanova, who are now in hiding in the United States.
Adding to his comments on WADA, Bach said the IOC was not responsible for the accreditation or supervision of anti-doping laboratories in Russia.
"So therefore the IOC cannot be made responsible for the timing or for the reasons of these incidents we have to face now and which we are addressing and have to address just a couple of days before the Olympic Games," Bach said.
He insisted the doping scandal would not taint the Rio Games.
"I don't think this event will be damaging. I trust people will realize the difficult situation we are in. We did our best to address the situation in a way to protect clean athletes."
Three IOC executive members have been named to make a final decision on which Russian athletes will compete in Rio once the individual federations have made their lists.
The panel is made up of Ugur Erdener, president of World Archery and head of the IOC medical and scientific commission, Claudia Bockel of the IOC athletes commission and Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch.
The IOC said the Russian team will be finalized before Friday's opening ceremony at the Rio Olympic stadium.
The Rio Games has also faced criticism over the state of the athletes' village and the readiness of some venues. On Sunday, thousands of people - including 4,000 in Rio - took part in demonstrations against suspended president Dilma Rousseff.
But Bach said that the organization of the Games is "coming together".
He added that the Brazilian authorities had acted quickly in recent months and "we are more confident than ever that we will have a great Olympic Games a la Brazil".
The Games, with an estimated 10,500 athletes, start on Friday and finish on Aug 21.
