The second report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) independent commission, understood to include shocking revelations of endemic corruption within IAAF and leading athletics federations other than Russia, such as track powerhouses Kenya, will likely make or break the nascent reign of newly-installed president Sebastian Coe.
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We have pointed out that the council could not have been unaware of the situation.
There was an evident lack of political appetite within the IAAF to confront Russian Federation with the full extent of its known and suspected doping activities.
And Coe, who says he has not considered stepping down from his position at the head of the beleaguered organisation, is confident no allegations will emerge which directly implicate him in wrongdoing. “It can not be ignored or dismissed as attributable to the odd renegade acting on his own”, the report said.
Last week Diack Jnr was banned for life from athletics following an IAAF ethics commission investigation, which found that he was involved in soliciting a $450,000 (£313,000) bribe From former London marathon victor Lilya Shubukova in order to hide her doping.
In addition to the deal-making friendship forged between Putin and then-IAAF president Lamine Diack, the report details a sudden increase from $6 million to $25 million for Russian rights to televise the 2013 worlds.
The report, announced at a news conference in Munich, states: “The IAAF Council could not have been unaware of the extent of doping in athletics and the non-enforcement of applicable anti-doping rules”.
“Coe and Bubka were there”, Pound told British newspaper The Times recently. “Continued denial will simply make it more hard to make genuine progress”, Pound said.
“As far as the ability of Lord Coe to remain as head of the IAAF, I think it’s a fabulous opportunity for the IAAF to seize this opportunity and under strong leadership to move forward”, Pound said. Also receiving lifetime bans were the former president of Russia’s track federation and its top distance-running and race-walking coach.
Mr Diack, who was replaced by Sebastian Coe as president last August, is under investigation by French police for corruption and was heavily criticised in WADA’s first report. Coe’s chief of staff, Nick Davies, has “stepped back” from the organization after a leaked e-mail appeared to show plans to delay naming Russian dopers to avoid embarrassing the country while it hosted the 2013 world championships.
But Pound said he believes Coe had “not the faintest idea of the extent” of Diack’s alleged corruption when he took power.
Diack is facing corruption and money laundering charges in France, accused of taking more than 1 million euros ($1.1 million) in a scheme to blackmail athletes and cover up their doping positives.
Its athletes could miss competing at the summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and Russia’s anti-doping agency and Moscow laboratory were also suspended.
It said the IAAF’s governance process was inadequate to prevent corruption, and the checks and balances of good governance were missing.
As well as Lamine Diack, French prosecutors are investigating his lawyer Habib Cisse, his son Massata and Dolle.
Pound spoke of “institutional knowledge of troubles with Russia” and McLaren said the case was “beyond sporting corruption” and rather “criminal corruption”.
It added: “In 2011 there was a huge influx of suspicious profiles coming through the ABP. Each case takes an average of eight months to 18 months from investigation to sanction”.
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It was completely improper to have provided a list of Russian athletes suspected of doping to anyone outside the official anti-doping unit at the IAAF.
