Sergey Bubka revealed yesteday that he expects the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to approve new tough sanctions for coaches and officials involved in helping athletes dope.
Bubka, head of the IOC’s Entourage Commission, will put forward a series of recommendations to be discussed by the organization’s Executive Board at its meeting in Moscow on August 9.
“It is clear, I am chair of the Entourage Commission and we are working right now for entourage sanctions,” said Bubka, one of six IOC members currently running to replace Jacques Rogge as President. “We have already done our work and the final stage, the Executive Board of IOC will approve this and this we will presented to sports institutions to implement.”
Several recent doping scandals have provoked debate about the role of coaches and managers in an athlete’s regime, with both America’s former world 100- and 200-meters champion Tyson Gay and Jamaica’s ex-world 100-meter record holder Asafa Powell blaming people involved with them for failing drugs tests.
“Of course there are some positive cases that are unpleasant, we don’t like them but in some way we must see it as positive,” said Bubka, a vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). “The system works…you will pay the price if you go the wrong way, this is a very important message.”
Bubka warned athletes to steer clear of supplements that could leave them vulnerable to positive tests and gave his support to increased bans for convicted dopers from two to four years.
“I think we need to go this way,” Bubka said. “We need to protect honest athletes, we must eliminate the cheaters. This is very important for sport, for youth, for credibility of sport. We need to be very strong and tough with the doping. You are responsible. The supplement business has become a multi-million dollar business and we give them information but in the end it is the athletes’ responsibility.”
The 49-year-old, who broke the world record 35 times, including the current outdoor mark of 6.13 meters, which he set in Sestriere 19 years ago, plans to emphasize the youth if he is elected as President at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires on September 10.
He hopes that it will help give him the edge over the other candidates running to replace Rogge, Germany’s Thomas Bach, Puerto Rico’s Richard Carrion, Switzerland’s Denis Oswald, Singapore’s Ser Miang Ng and Taiwan’s C K Wu.
“One of the priorities is the youth because we want to promote what is good in the generation,” said Bubka, President of the National Committee of Ukraine.
“We had a successful Olympic Games [at London 2012] but we need to promote the sport.
“We need to look at the health condition of the kids with obesity and diabetes.
“With computers and social media there are a lot of activities that replace physical activity.
“Physical education at school is not very good in many countries and we need to change and engage the youth with the help of Governments and institutes of sport.
“We need to get a legacy for future generations.
“This is a great opportunity for me to run for the IOC Presidency.”
Inside the Games is an online blog of the London Organizing Committee that staged the 2012 London Games. The blog continues to cover issues that are important to the Olympic Movement. This article is reprinted here with permission of the blog editors.