Open letter to Thomas Bach

Before reading me, I invite you to consult this column by my colleague Martin Leclerc.

I think you understand what that means if nothing changes? If the status quo remains in Beijing until the arrival of thousands of athletes, the consequences might be catastrophic.

As an Olympic athlete and coach, I ask you to intervene as soon as possible and to force the use of detection tests approved by international authorities.

The Beijing 2022 Games had been doomed since July 31, 2015, when you and your members had to choose the least worst of the remaining candidates. This first major decision since your election as IOC President on September 10, 2013 will forever be a stain on your record, Mr. Bach.

The Beijing Games: screening too sensitive?

We are there now, a few days before the opening of these Games. Unfortunately, many are already looking forward to the closing ceremony while others are outright asking for the event to be cancelled. Personally, I can only hope that the athletes are treated fairly and equitably.

If there is one person on Earth who can step in and correct the situation, it is you Mr. Bach. However, I hope that you have lost your white gloves since your intervention with Peng Shuai, this poor tennis player who is very probably still in captivity, well controlled, for having denounced her attacker.

Several athletes and members of the delegations had accepted that the coronavirus might put an end to their Olympic dream. On the other hand, what is currently happening in Beijing goes well beyond the virus. Tests at a sensitivity well above global standards, followed by random results, let us predict the worst when the athletes arrive on Chinese soil.

If the employees of the Olympic rights-holding broadcasters are treated so harshly, there is every reason to believe that the same will be true for the athletes.

You may already be in solution mode, but allow me to doubt it given the developments of the past few hours. The many scars on my heart as an Olympian since the Sochi Games leave me wondering regarding your abilities to do what needs to be done.

I don’t know if you hear people outside of Lausanne, but the disgust for Olympism and for your organization seems to spread as fast as the Omicron variant. Have we reached a tipping point? I believe him.

What is at stake in the next two weeks is much bigger than just the 2022 Games. The future of the Olympic movement is at stake. This might be in danger even if the next host cities, Paris, Milan-Cortina and Los Angeles, have all the potential necessary to rekindle the flame.

In July 2015, you had every reason in the world to think you had pulled off a home run by betting on the extraordinary market offered by China. I fear however that having put all your chips on the same number will have been a bad gamble in the end.

Hoping with all my heart that you will make me lie. You have until February 4.

Dominick Gauthier