IOC chief Thomas Bach’s sports and personal links to Russia

Since he won fencing gold in 1976, Bach has seen Putin ally Alisher Usmanov pump large sums of money into the sport.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, left, with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the World Cup final soccer match between Germany and Argentina at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has longstanding sports and personal links to Russia.

Bach has been a regular visitor to Russia in his three years as head of the IOC, both before and after the Sochi Olympics.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also has shown himself willing to travel to improve contacts with the IOC, giving a well-received speech in 2007 in Guatemala — delivered in English, which is rare for Putin — ahead of the vote that gave Sochi the 2014 Olympics.

Since he won Olympic gold in 1976, Bach’s chosen sport of fencing has been transformed, most recently by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, a Putin ally who has pumped large sums of his own money into the sport across eight years as president of the International Fencing Federation.

That money has increased the profile of one of the more niche sports on the Olympic program, making for a bigger media presence and glitzier competitions.

Bach also has business connections in Russia. After becoming president of the IOC, he kept his other role as chairman of the supervisory board of Weinig, a German company that produces woodworking machinery. Weinig, which did not respond to requests for comment, has a strong presence in Russia, with a headquarters near Moscow and offices across the country.

Besides Bach, several other influential IOC members have long been sympathetic to Russia.

Putin was presented with world swimming’s highest honour last year by federation head Julio Maglione, who has yet to comment on World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren’s allegations that Russian officials sabotaged the testing program at its world championships last year. International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel is a friend of Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and a regular visitor to Moscow.

Patrick Hickey, an Irish member of the IOC’s executive board, has been trying to persuade the Russian government to host the 2019 European Games in his other role as head of the European Olympic Committees.

The European Games have run into trouble after a much-criticised debut edition in Azerbaijan last year and the decision of The Netherlands to pull out of hosting the next Games in 2019. An IOC statement on the McLaren report last week said the IOC would no longer “organise or give patronage” to the European Games if held in Russia.

Other IOC board members, however, harbour less sympathy for Russia. WADA, which wanted Russia’s entire team banned from Rio, also has its president Craig Reedie on the IOC board.

AP