New book about Fencing 1976 and his connections to the Kremlin

[StefanMUC]

Next week, a new book by two journalists from Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung will come out, called "The Olygarch" and you can guess who is the figure that inspired the title's word play.

It deals with our favourite IOC President's connections with the ZZZar, and a particular juicy episode made headlines today as an advance segment of the book: Apparently during the 2011 Alpine Skiing World Championships held in Garmisch, and used as a major promotion platform for the Munich 2018 bid, Bach (then still DOSB President and of course IOC VP) disappeared from the scene for a day. There is now an affidavit quoted in the book by Alfons Hörmann (at the time President of the German Skiing Federation and later Bach's successor as DOSB President who also had a very tumltuous and dubious time in office until he resigned in 2021 in the wake of the Rhine-Ruhr 2032 disaster) saying that Bach had told him afterwards that he went on a brief trip to Moscow, flown in and out secretly on a private jet to meet with Vlad. Hörmann also stated that Bach told him the trip went very well and he was now sure to get "it". It being of course the IOC Presidency for which he was already heavily campaigning over two years before the actual vote.

In short: Very likely that the guy is only sitting on the throne in Lausanne because he was ready to be Vlad's puppet. And all the actions taken during his Presidency whenever there was a scandal related to Russia surely do not give hope that this is just an evil rumour. Funny though that he seems to have fallen from grace now with Russia openly creating competition for the IOC ("Future Games" etc). I'm sure there's still lots of dirty laundry in the KGB cellars about many IOC members (let's not forget - and that is also part of the book apparently - that Bach's big mentor JAS was once himself Spanish ambassador to Moscow and crowned there as IOC President...).

IOC will probably deny all of this as usual and accuse the authors of fake news, but just in case anyone still asks about Bach's reputation at home, here you go (again).

[FYI]

Interesting, so instead of campaigning for Munich 2018, he went to the motherland to campaign for himself.

[yoshi]

Wow, is that evidence that the suspicion was well founded? Bach is a Russian asset? Sounds pretty explosive & I'd be interested to hear what Ukraine think too...

[FYI]

Gives a whole new meaning to cronies.

[StefanMUC]

22 minutes ago, FYI said:

Interesting, so instead of campaigning for Munich 2018, he went to the motherland to campaign for himself.

It was always clear he put self-interest over that of any German bid. 2018 was probably chanceless against PC, but a clever campaign could have built on it for 2022, yet the top job was more important personally…

14 minutes ago, yoshi said:

Wow, is that evidence that the suspicion was well founded? Bach is a Russian asset? Sounds pretty explosive & I'd be interested to hear what Ukraine think too...

Not sure how much as hard evidence this would count, but it certainly confirms suspicions for sure. I guess either way Ukraine does not think much about him anymore anyway.

[FYI]

3 minutes ago, StefanMUC said:

It was always clear he put self-interest over that of any German bid. 2018 was probably chanceless against PC, but a clever campaign could have built on it for 2022, yet the top job was more important personally…

Yeah, sure. But the thing that caught my attention the most, is him disappearing from Garmisch at the ASWC's which Munich 2018 was using to promote themselves, so he could then fly in-&-out of Moscow, on a secret private jet, to meet up with his 'buddy' so that he was sure to get "it" (the IOC's top-job). I mean, you can't make this stuff up. 

[baron-pierreIV]

Hmmmm.  Juan Antonio Samaranch, Sr., was Spanish ambassador to Moscow when he became IOC President.  And those were the REAL Soviet times.  Everything old is new again.  The IOC survived.  

Next.  

[Sir Rols]

I used to think Stefan was a bit overzealous with his antipathy for Bach, like Baron and Tony E, but I’ve really come over to Stefan’s view now. Vaingloriousness and ambition is one thing, but this guy is slowly but surely damaging the IOC and the Olympics.

[FYI]

Well, that article that you put on here a month or two ago was the one that really did it for me. This is just more like icing on the cake & the cherry on top. That old saying around here "the IOC is not FIFA" can really be thrown out the window now. Cause they really are more & more like them now than ever before.

[yoshi]

I mean at least FIFA is pretty much open about its dodginess, see the great stitch up. This has major implications on 2036 too, since it opens up the possibility (presumably no evidence yet directly so only a possibility) that the St Petersburg 2036 plan that was clearly well advanced before the invasion of Ukraine was P*tin's price for supporting Bach. Especially if 2032 was a certain other someone's* price for support too, meaning those two plans would've basically been Bach settling his debts. I did wonder if he'd truly given up on St Petersburg with the invasion or if he was gonna put 36 on the back burner in the hope it could be reactivated again, I'm pretty much convinced of that now (so unless I'm wrong fully or he does think it'd be too brazen, don't expect any movement on 36 anytime soon), and it certainly explains his actions since the invasion.

The ultra cynical part of me is also wondering whether Sweden refused to give him their support & that's why he's stonewalled them throughout his term. I miss Jacques Rogge. 

*In fairness to that other someone, a grubby deal with Coatesy is a lot less bad than a grubby deal with P*tin. Still a grubby deal though. 

[FYI]

Closed-off dodginess is even more dangerous, cause you don't see it coming. Speaking of 2036, Bachy-poo has also been playing footsie with India & Qatar. Makes one ponder what kind of 'grubby deals' he has to settle with them, too. Including Cricket on the Olympic roster seems to be one. But something tells me that's just the appetizer.

 

[cfm Jeremie]

I will always remember Bach braging in Buenos Aires in 2013 about how the first phone call he received after his election was from P*tin...

Given the spectacular downfall of this relationship... and the track record of P*tin with his former allies, I wouldn't feel really safe if I were Bach.

[StefanMUC]

Oh yes, that phone call was also mentioned in the article about the book.

Both hilarious and scary, actually.

 

[yoshi]

Where can this article/advance segment be found? Is it on SZ's website? I wonder if the Guardian will print it too since they do a lot of work with SZ. 

[StefanMUC]

27 minutes ago, yoshi said:

Where can this article/advance segment be found? Is it on SZ's website? I wonder if the Guardian will print it too since they do a lot of work with SZ. 

Here (but I guess it's paywalled):
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/sport/ioc-thomas-bach-wladimir-putin-e448593/

Pretty sure the Guardian will pick it up, yes.

[FYI]

Wow, I guess that's what they mean when they say - 'making a deal with the devil'. And the more I hear about Bachy-poo lately, the more I'm convinced about his sketchyness.

[yoshi]

It is under paywall, but there was the archive site @Sir Rols posted - although that's not working rn, have they got wise to it?

[FYI]

Darn, apparently the book is not going to be available in English (at least not yet anyway), & only available (as of now) on Kindle in the U.S. 

[yoshi]

https://archive.ph/IMGsF

Found it... this is certainly interesting. Didn't know all this about Samaranch Sr - interesting too to see Horst Dassler mentioned, I remember a post from @StefanMUC about him when I asked about Germany's attitude to the IOC. It's damning alright...I understand his view now, especially if much of this is widely known as true already. It just makes it even more clear that if Bach is the new Samaranch, the IOC desperately needs its new Rogge next year. Unfortunately it looks like Bach takes his approach to term limits from P*tin too. 

[baron-pierreIV]

When are the Golden Showers going to be mentioned -- like that of a certain orange-tinged US hustler and snake-oil salesman?  

BTW, that Crocus concert hall which was the scene of the recent massacre was where Agent Fart-45 held the Miss Universe pageant in 2013(?) before he sold the pageant and then went for the jugular.  

Also, the oddest thing about Samaranch, Sr., was that he was fascist/Falangist at his core--yet he went to bed with the Commies who helped prop up his sports career -- yet he was powerless in thwarting the Soviets' boycott of LA 1984.  Funny, huh?   

**********************************
This moment makes me recall the time when I worked one session of the UN General Assembly in New York in 1983 (one year before the LA Games and JAS was stretching his legs as IOC president).  On my first day of work (as a temporary GA staffer), my group of about 16 new staffers had an orientation session lasting about 2 hours.  There were 2 young Russian men in our group.  Where everyone at least presented themselves with their first name to the group, the 2 Russkies simply would NOT make eye contact with anyone.  They averted your gaze.  I knew then and there that they were KGB recruits.  
Funny thing, too, was that my immediate boss turned out to be Russian -- but he was already very polished and taken on a western sheen (altho he had an odd, stale smell.  Expired colognes at that Dept Store in Moscow?  ).  The Soviet staffers at the UN were known to be like 90% KGB operatives.  Luckily, I had very little direct contact with Alex T.  Oh, and this was pre-digitization of Employee IDs, OMG, the tales I could tell you of the photos of diplomats coming from the Warsaw Pact countries. Ay yay yay.  Scary!  Esp. compared to the "glamorous" ID photos of Imelda Marcos and her young son then, Bongbong -- now president of the Philippines. 

Edited April 21, 2024 by baron-pierreIV
x

[Rob2012]