Paradox. In the endless soap opera of doping in Russian sport, which began in the summer of 2015, a German plays the moderator. Thomas Bach, IOC President. Another has emerged since the last episode as leader of the revolt. Alfons Hörmann (photo above), the president of the National Olympic Committee (DOSB). A wink from history: the second succeeded the first at the head of the Olympic organization in Germany.
While Thomas Bach has been slowing down since last spring to prevent a massive and indefinite exclusion of Russia from the sporting map, his compatriot and presumed ally Alfons Hörmann took advantage of the weekend to brandish the standard of the revolt. “If Russia's state doping is proven and the Russian Olympic Committee violated the IOC Charter, a complete ban on the Russian Olympic team at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games and also at the Tokyo 2020 Winter Games would be a possible remedy,” suggested the DOSB chairman.
Radical. But, according to the German leader, necessary and undoubtedly even essential. Alfons Hörmann suggested it in the columns of the daily newspaper The World, an exclusion of Russia as a whole from the next two editions of the Olympic Games would have the merit of sending the public a clear and unambiguous message about the desire of the IOC and international institutions to wage the war on doping.
“If a country has violated the Olympic Charter to this extent, then it must be sanctioned in the most severe way,” says the German leader. For Alfons Hörmann, it seems difficult to imagine that doping was so widespread in Russian sport (the second part of the McLaren report mentions "at least a thousand athletes concerned"), without the national Olympic committee having had any. awareness. “In a country like Russia, I find it hard to believe,” he confides.
Coincidence or not, the very offensive position taken by the head of the German Olympic movement comes at a time when Russian sport is once again being singled out by the television channel ARD. German, too. In his latest in an explosive series of documentaries on doping in Russia, broadcast on Sunday January 22, director and journalist Hajo Seppelt brings it back. He reveals, with supporting evidence, that nothing seems to have changed in Russian athletics, despite the sanctions and the suspension of the federation by the IAAF.
Star of the documentaryARD: Vladimir Kazarin (photo above). A Russian coach full of success and medals, known in athletics stadiums for having led a group of 800m specialists to the podiums. At the top of the list, Maria Savinova, Olympic distance champion at the London Games in 2012. The young woman recognized in a previous documentary on the channel ARD having used growth hormones during his career. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) called for his lifetime ban in a report dated at the end of 2015.
With such a liability, Vladimir Kazarin should now no longer be able to approach an athlete within a hundred meters. But the latest documentary from the German channel shows him exercising his profession as a coach with complete impunity. The team ofARD reveals hidden camera images taken in Yekaterinburg. She also collected the testimony of a Russian athlete, Andrei Dmitriev, who had become a whistleblower. The runner filmed the images for the documentary himself. He assures in the report that Vladimir Kazarin continues to take care of the preparation of several high-level Russian athletes.
Bad timing: the German documentary was broadcast on the eve of a new meeting, in Moscow, between Russian authorities and representatives of the IAAF. It begins this Monday, January 23 and should continue the next day. The agenda is already known.
