IOC President Calls For Tough Fight Against ‘Doping’, Pledges USD 10 MN

Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), addressed 1500 delegates at the 5th World Conference on Doping in Sport organised by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Katowice, Poland on Wednesday.

While addressing the conference, Thomas Bach promised $10 million to fight doping in sports and persuaded stakeholders to come together to send a signal of determination, cooperation and integrity to the athletes.

Thomas Bach looked very committed to nail all those involved in the doping menace as he gave a clear message that the IOC needs to adopt zero tolerance for everybody, be it the Athletes or the support staff.

He further explained that for each doping case, one needs to identify everyone who is drawn in. Bach added that one cannot just sanction the athlete and let the others go as it is a question of credibility and justice.

The IOC president then emphasized that strengthening the investigative powers of WADA and applying much more vigorous and restriction sanctions for the entourage was the need of the hour which could only be achieved with full support of the governments.

Thomas Bach also gave indications that “groundbreaking” method of using gene testing to catch doping cheats can be used to curb dope cases.

“Another area of innovative research that benefited from our joint investment is in the area of gene testing. With research on genetic sequencing progressing well, this new approach could be a groundbreaking method to detect blood doping weeks or even months after it took place. If approved by WADA, such new gene testing could be used already at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. These new methods will again strengthen deterrence. We want the cheats to never feel safe anytime or anywhere.” Bach said.

The conference was also addressed by Witold Banka, the incoming WADA President, who emphasized on the need to increase financial support for the fight against doping in sport. 

At last, it was the president of Poland Andrzej Duda who took the podium. He added if a change has to be brought in, young athletes need to be protected from poisoning their bodies.