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“We had to weigh up imposing punishment on a system and the extent to which you can hold athletes responsible for such a system. "It is an unacceptable lapse to insult someone who is not of the same opinion as you in such a manner," Bach told Germany's DPA news agency. The IAAF have banned Russia from competing at Rio 2016, a decision which was upheld at the Court of Arbitration for Sport last week, with long jumper Darya Klishina the only track and field competitor from the country due to feature in Rio, having supposedly been out of the Russian system.īach has strongly rejected Harting’s criticism and stated that the IOC had to make a difficult decision regarding Russia’s participation. Last year, he led a group of athletes posting a YouTube message saying the IAAF had “betrayed” them by failing to combat doping in the sport, which eventually led to the German being invited by the world governing body to visit their headquarters in Monte Carlo and see for himself the work they are doing. Harting has been a vocal anti-doping campaigner and declined to be considered for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Athlete of the Year award in 2014 because he did not want to appear alongside candidates who have served doping bans, including United States sprinter Justin Gatlin. Robert Harting has become well-known as an anti-doping campaigner ©Getty Images “I am personally ashamed, the whole thing is a pity." “Many officials have failed and they need to take a good hard look at themselves because at the end of the day they have failed in many ways. "I cannot personally see it in any other way, because I am a strong anti-doping campaigner. "For me he is part of the doping system, not the anti-doping system," Harting told a news conference, as reported by Reuters. Harting, a German like Bach, has claimed the IOC’s decision to opt against a blanket ban will lead to less protection for clean athletes with the three-time world champion becoming the latest Olympic athlete to oppose their ruling. More than 100 Russian athletes have so far been barred from competing at the Olympics in a number of sports, including swimming, canoeing, rowing, sailing and modern pentathlon. The IOC Executive Board on Sunday (July 24) asked International Federations (IFs) to ban Russians either implicated in Richard McLaren’s damning report, which uncovered the presence of a state-sponsored doping scheme at several major events spanning more than 30 sports, and those who had already served drugs bans.Įach IF are required to "carry out an individual analysis of each athlete’s anti-doping record, taking into account only reliable adequate international tests, and the specificities of the athlete’s sport and its rules" to decide on the eligibility of athletes in their sport. London 2012 men’s discus champion Robert Harting has described International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach as “part of the doping system” after the IOC opted against a blanket ban on Russian athletes at Rio 2016.