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Renowned Russian figure skating coach Tarasova lauds IOC chief Bach’s resignation

Olympic gold medalist Bach, 71, was elected president of the IOC in 2013 at the 125th IOC session in Buenos Aires for a term of eight years

MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. As leader of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach forgot that politics had no place in sports, so his resignation is quite welcome, renowned Russian figure skating coach Tatiana Tarasova told TASS.

On February 26, the IOC Executive Board accepted Bach’s resignation letter. The body will strip him of his IOC membership as well.

"As a coach, I should not care who holds that position, but I can’t help but care when our country is excluded, when our athletes and kids are barred from [international] tournaments," she said. "All of this happened under his watch. He supported it."

"Nothing good came under his so-called ‘wonderful’ leadership," she continued. "Our [Russia’s] presence and participation have always enriched figure skating championships, yet he didn’t consider it necessary to stand up for fairness," she continued.

"It is nonsense that only one [figure skater] instead of three is cleared today to skate internationally," Tarasova said. "Perhaps he forgot that sports should be kept free of politics."

"If he forgot that, then it’s better for him to take a permanent vacation," she added.

Olympic gold medalist Bach, 71, was elected president of the IOC in 2013 at the 125th IOC session in Buenos Aires for a term of eight years.

Bach won his Olympic gold in the team foil competition at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. After serving his initial eight-year term as IOC president, he ran for another four-year term in the 2021 elections, where he was the sole candidate and was ultimately re-elected.

Seven candidates will vie for the IOC presidency at the organization’s 144th session in Greece between March 18 and 21.

The candidates are Sebastian Coe (Great Britain), Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr (Spain), Morinari Watanabe (Japan), Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe), David Lappartient (France), Johan Eliasch (Great Britain) and Prince Faisal bin Hussein (Jordan).

Russia’s Figure Skating global stance

On March 1, 2022, the International Skating Union announced a decision to provisionally suspend all athletes from Russia and Belarus. The suspension includes figure skating, speed skating and short-track speed skating competitions.

At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Athletes from the countries in question should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.

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