No more doubt: Russia is now directly targeting Thomas Bach in its attacks against the IOC and the Olympic movement. Yelena Vyalbe (photo above), the president of the Russian Cross-Country Ski Federation (CCSFR), attacked the German leader in an interview with the TASS agency. For the former cross-country skier with 14 world medals, triple Olympic champion in relay (1992, 1994 and 1998), Thomas Bach has proved since the beginning of his presidential mandate that he was not independent from the American partners of the authority. “Mr. Bach has already inflicted so much damage to world sport that it is very unlikely that a future IOC leader will be able to surpass him, suggested Yelena Vyalbe, who is also the head coach of the Russian cross-country skiing team. He is a sports bureaucrat who depends entirely on his sponsors, i.e. the United States, and this has been evident since the beginning of his term as IOC president. I doubt he ever opened the Olympic Charter to read its contents, let alone take inspiration from it in his work.”
