Thomas Bach cites 'right to individual justice' in Russian doping ahead of Rio

International Olympic officials will try to find "the right balance between collective responsibility and individual justice" in dealing with Russian doping allegations ahead of the games in Rio de Janeiro, IOC President Thomas Bach said Wednesday.

Bach spoke in an interview five days before the release of a report by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren into allegations of a state-sponsored Russian doping conspiracy at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Some officials, including the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, have said Russian athletes in all sports should be barred from competing for their country at the Rio Games if McLaren's report produces evidence that Russia's sports ministry was involved in subverting the Olympic drug-testing system.

Bach said he could not speculate on what the report might say or what the consequences might be, but stressed that the International Olympic Committee would take the rights of individual athletes into account.

"It is obvious that you cannot sanction or punish a badminton player for infringement of rules or manipulation by an official or lab director in the Winter Games," he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press and two other international news agencies.

"What we have to do is to take decisions based on facts, and to find the right balance between collective responsibility and individual justice," Bach added. "The right to individual justice applies to every athlete in the world."

Bach said if the report highlights doping in summer sports, it would be up to international federations to decide on the eligibility of Russian athletes or coaches on an "individual basis."

"Everybody not implicated cannot be made responsible for the misbehaviour of others," he said.

Lab director 'doped dozens of athletes'

McLaren was commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate allegations made by Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of Moscow's drug-testing lab. He told the New York Times that he doped dozens of athletes, including at least 15 medallists, before the 2014 Olympics and helped switch clean samples for tainted ones through a concealed hole in the wall of the Sochi lab during the games.

Rodchenkov, who is now living in the United States, said he operated on instructions from Russia's sports ministry, which denies the claim.

"We have to see the allegations," Bach said. "We have to see how far it goes, what the evidence is and then we have to evaluate the report. If, at the end of this procedure, there should be proven infringements of the anti-doping rules or manipulation of tests, then together with the winter sports federations we will take the necessary measures."

Bach said measures could be taken against athletes, officials or others.

"This can include further institutional measures, in particular on the level of the international federations," he said, suggesting the possibility of Russian winter sports bodies being suspended.

McLaren's report, however, is also expected to look into doping in other sports in Russia.

Last month, McLaren said his preliminary findings supported allegations that the Russian sports ministry was involved in manipulating test results before, during and after the track world championships in Moscow in 2013.

Bach noted that a recent Olympic summit agreed that the presumption of innocence has been reversed in the case of Russian athletes, meaning they have to prove they are clean.

"For us it is very clear, everybody implicated in a doping case has to be sanctioned and will be sanctioned," he said.

Track team remains banned

Russia's track and field athletes remain banned by the IAAF based on a WADA investigation last year that detailed alleged state-sponsored doping.

Russia has appealed, and a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport is expected next Thursday. Asked whether the IOC would accept the ruling if it upholds the exclusion of the Russians, Bach said, "Yes."

The IAAF also passed a rule allowing for Russian athletes who have been outside the country and subject to reliable testing to apply to compete as neutral athletes. Only one athlete, U.S.-based long jumper Daria Klishina, was accepted among 68 applicants.

While the IAAF says she should compete under a neutral flag, Bach reiterated the IOC position that, if deemed eligible, Klishina would "be a full member" of the Russian Olympic Committee team and come under the national flag.

In a separate case, Russian 800-meter runner Yulia Stepanova, a former doper who helped blow the whistle on systematic cheating in her country, has been cleared to compete as a neutral athlete under an IAAF "exceptional eligibility" rule. The IOC is currently studying her case and whether it merits "an exemption" from the Olympic Charter.

Golf snubs to be evaluated after Rio

The absence of many of the top men from the Olympic golf tournament in Rio de Janeiro will be taken into account in evaluating the sport's future in the games, Bach said Wednesday.

Golf is making its first appearance in the Olympics for the first time since 1904, but 20 men — including the top four in the world rankings — have pulled out, many citing concerns over the Zika virus.

"We have to respect the individual decisions, even if they are going contrary to the recommendations given by the World Health Organization, if Zika is given as a reason," Bach said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press and two other international news agencies.

Bach added that "very different reasons" not related to Zika have also been cited in golf circles for skipping the Olympics.

"We're also following with interest the discussions in the golf community, how they themselves are considering these discussions and what judgment they are making," he said.

Rory McIlroy, among those who have withdrawn from the games, said Monday that golf needs to get tougher in its drug-testing procedures if it "wants to be seen as a mainstream sport." He also said he may not even bother to watch the Olympic golf tournament on TV, saying he would probably stick to track and field, swimming and diving — "the stuff that matters."

Golf and rugby were approved by the IOC in 2013 for inclusion in the Rio Games and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The spate of withdrawals from Rio has put golf's long-term Olympic future in question.

The IOC will meet after the Rio Games to evaluate golf and all other sports and events on the program.

"One of the main categories of the evaluation is, of course, the question of participation of the best players," Bach said. "Let us wait then for this evaluation. Then, of course, we will also speak with the International Golf Federation once this is available." By evaluating events within each sport, the IOC could look separately at the men's and women's tournaments. As it has been almost exclusively male players who have been withdrawing from Rio, the IOC could potentially consider whether to drop the men's event and keep the women's tournament for Tokyo.

The Associated Press