IOC chief Thomas Bach defends rule banning protests by athletes
IOC president Thomas Bach has warned against political protests at the Games. (AFP Photo)
LONDON: Olympic chief Thomas Bach warned against allowing the Games to “descend into a marketplace of demonstrations” on Saturday after criticism of a rule banning protests by athletes.
The International Olympic Committee president has come under fire for the ruling, announced in a year which has seen widespread support by athletes for the Black Lives Matter movement.
But Bach, who won a team fencing gold medal at the 1976 Olympics, said he had learned first-hand about the “political impotence of sport” when West Germany boycotted the 1980 Games over the…
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