Berlin (dpa) – German Olympic champion speedskater Claudia Pechstein demanded Monday the resignation of International Olympic Committee
(IOC) president Thomas Bach for a decision allowing a Chinese athlete to compete at the Rio Olympics despite a doping violation.
Pechstein was referring to the case of Liu Hong who received a one-month suspension on May 7 after testing positive for doping at a competition in Rome. The one-month ban permits Liu, the 20-kilometre race walker world record holder, to compete in the 20-kilometre race walking event in Rio.
«It makes me completely sick when I – a proven innocent athlete that lost everything – read such a report,» Pechstein wrote on her Facebook page.
She was referring to her own case when she was banned for two years in 2009 over elevated blood levels in her biological passport. She protested her innocence, and doctors later diagnosed a genetic defect that could explain the abnormal levels.
Pechstein, who won five golds at winter Games between 1994 and 2006, had already criticised Bach for the recent IOC decision permitting Russian participation in the Rio Olympics despite revelations of massive and systematic doping violations.
«You as IOC boss are once again not up to the task in your role and permit everything to happen,» Pechstein said in the remarks addressed at Bach.
She demanded that he should take action to handle things «in the spirit of the Olympics» and ban the genuine doping violators. «Or you should finally assume responsibility and resign with immediate effect.»
Pechstein also charged that the system for which Bach is responsible had «again completely failed.»
