Bach is unhappy.
The International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach is probably livid at the United States House of Representatives’ sending a bill to the White House that could eventually give Congress the power to remove a United States Olympic Committee employee. If the bill is signed into law, the United States would be running afoul of the IOC. The United States could be tossed from the Olympics for government interference. The IOC views itself as some sort of government and has special observer status at the United Nations. The IOC is merely a sports organization but for some reason, nations buckle to the IOC’s whims. The “Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athletes Act of 2020”, is supposed to protect athletes against sexual predators such as Dr. Larry Nasser who molested young female gymnasts in his role as the team doctor for USA Gymnastics. But the IOC sees something it does not like. The United States government interfering with its vision of sports. The IOC and local Olympic committees should take care of business not the government.
That is, until government is needed to fund the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics. Someone should remind Bach that the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics is getting about a half of billion dollars’ worth of public money not to mention an open check book of money from the United States government to provide security for the event. The IOC has also found out that taxpayers really don’t like funding Olympic events. The IOC gets massive funding for Olympic events from a Philadelphia-based cable TV multiple systems operators, Comcast. Brian Roberts’ company owns NBC-TV which has the American TV rights for the next six Olympics. The U. S. is not Kuwait or India. Those two countries have, in the past, been suspended from Olympic activities because of government interference. Dollars talk.
