IOC Candidate Ng Urges Diplomacy Over Russia and Transparency on German Doping – Keir Radnedge
August 5, 2013
The
Ser Miang Ng, senior vice-president of the IOC, was making a flying visit to
Carrion had opened up a route to controversy last week with his critical comments about Russia’s anti-gay laws while Bach has seen Germany’s sports credibility crumble with the weekend leaking of a report into decades-long systematic doping.
Ng, facing the international media over lunch with the London Olympic Stadium as a dramatically significant backdrop, was challenged first over Carrion’s intervention: Just six months ahead of the Sochi Winter Games the Puerto Rican banker had challenged
The 64-year-old thought the route to resolution lay in diplomatic discussion rather than wayword words.
He said: “I believe the IOC is talking with the highest authorities in
(Richard Carrion)
“It has all this in common with the IOC and I’m confident we will both make the best efforts to make sure this will be the case. Neither one would want to make any move which would jeopardise the Games.
“We both want to make sure our athletes and officials and visitors enjoy themselves so this is a joint objective . . . which will be resolved to the satisfaction of both sides.”
Ng discounted the possibility of a boycott by any country upset by the Russian stance. He pointed out that taking the Games around the world involved showing respect for other countries’ different customs and cultures.
In any case, past events had shown that the only people hurt by boycotts were athletes who had trained for years for the Games.
One of the main planks of Ng’s manifesto is an insistence that the next president of the IOC should extend and enhance the work undertaken by retiring president Jacques Rogge to “safeguard the integrity of sport.”
This had been challenged by illegal betting, matchfixing and evidence of widespread doping across the Olmpic world. Most recent evidence had been the weekend leaking of a report which embarrassed German sport.
Bach (above), favourite to become next IOC president, had been involved in the commissioning of the report in 2008 in his role as president of the German Olympic sports federation (DOSB).
Ng hoped to see its full and open publication of the 800-page report, compiled by researchers from the
However Ng expressed himself bemused that one of the report’s other commissioning authorities had been the Federal Institute of Sport Science which had been involved in the doping programme’s operation.
He added: “I find it mind-boggling that any country is engaged in systematic doping and I believe that we need this report to come out as soon as possible.
“The credibility of the [Olympic] movement depends on the integrity of sport and each constituent body – from the IOC to the national Olympic committees to the international federations.”
Keir Radnedge has been covering football worldwide for more than 40 years, writing 33 books, from tournament guides to comprehensive encyclopedias, aimed at all ages.
His journalism career included The Daily Mail for 20 years as well as The Guardian and other national newspapers and magazines in the UK and around the world. He is a former editor, and remains a lead columnist, with World Soccer, generally recognised as the premier English language magazine on global football.
In addition to his writing, Keir has been a regular analyst for BBC radio and television, Sky Sports, Sky News, Aljazeera and CNN.
Keir Radnedge’s Twitter: @KeirRadnedge
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