Thomas Bach, IOC president, said it was an historic day today as the IOC took the unprecedented step of banning Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics as punishment for the state sponsored doping of Olympic athletes before London 2012 and Sochi 2014. But, did they really ban Russian athletes? Did they really take the "unprecedented step" Well, kind of....but not really. There will still be "clean" Russian athletes in South Korea, but they won't be competing under the Russian flag. So it's a case of the IOC did....but didn't. But that's another debate that will go on and on. There was something else that got my attention.
Vitaly Mutko, former Minister for Sport in the Russian government and a former member of Fifa's Executive Council was banned by the IOC from attending any future Olympic Games. It feels like he's finally getting what he deserves. Mutko was the Minister who oversaw the doping program and there is an abundance of evidence that he was aware of it, and involved. Mutko was barred form seeking re-election to the Fifa Council (formerly the Executive Council) because his new position as Deputy Prime Minister constituted political interference. It seemed like a good excuse for Fifa to be rid of Mutko.
Mutko is currently the head of the Russia 2018 organizing committee. So what did Fifa do after today;s news. They issued a statement an hour after the IOC had banned Mutko to say that it "“no impact on the preparations for the 2018 World Cup as we continue to work to deliver the best possible event”. That's that, then. Business as usual for Fifa, and from Fifa. Sepp Blatter is long gone but nothing changes.
I had written about Mutko many times, questioning all the controversy surrounding him. After today, he's been knocked back a little bit but he's still standing. So not to prove a point but just for my own sake here are some of my mentions of Mutko (there were more but as part of a another subject).
http://dinoworldcup.blogspot.ca/…/11/day-957-worldcup2018.h…
http://dinoworldcup.blogspot.ca/…/vitaly-mutko-and-fifa.html
http://dinoworldcup.blogspot.ca/…/same-old-fifa-always-lyin…
http://dinoworldcup.blogspot.ca/20…/…/no-comment-really.html
http://dinoworldcup.blogspot.ca/…/08/lets-all-be-positive.h…
http://dinoworldcup.blogspot.ca/…/mutok-going-or-staying.ht…
http://dinoworldcup.blogspot.ca/…/russia-2018-and-doping-ag…
http://dinoworldcup.blogspot.ca/2017/03/mutko-again.html
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