In a report released Thursday by the World Anti-Doping Agency, an independent commission mentioned evidence that several million dollars in sponsorship money reportedly paid by Japan to the International Association of Athletics Federations may have swayed then-IAAF chief Lamine Diack to favor Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
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IAAF president Coe initially denied claims Russian doping cases were covered up by the governing body, but the report offered a very different verdict and accused Diack – who is under formal investigation by French police as part of a corruption inquiry – of sanctioning fraudulent activities.
A report has detailed “embedded” corruption at the governing body of world athletics and suggested collusion between Russian and IAAF officials at the highest levels in a coverup of mass doping in Russian sport.
It is only the extortion allegedly masterminded by a small cabal around Diack, including two of his sons, which receives criticism, as well as the inability of senior IAAF staff to notice and react to this. “The government is committed to helping tackle corruption in sport and this issue will be on the agenda at our major anti-corruption summit later this year”.
“I’m very grateful for the personal endorsement of Dick but he’s not somebody that pulls his punches”, Coe, elected to replace Diack last August, said.
At the time, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said he thought the IAAF announced the bans to help its own image and distract from the looming publication of the second part of WADA’s report, according to Reuters. “We have to make sure that whatever we do, our sport can never ever return to the horror show that we have witnessed in the last few years”.
Asked about possible wider corruption in selection of Tokyo for the 2020 Olympic Games, commission President Richard W. Pound said this did not seem plausible. However, critically, Pound gave his full backing to Coe remaining as president, saying he could not think of anyone better to reform the organisation.
Despite the report’s blistering conclusions about the IAAF as an organization, it doesn’t name many names, only broadly concluding that IAAF Presidential Council members had to have known about all this amusing business.
Pound called for the IAAF to undertake forensic examination of how the TV rights were awarded to determine if there were any improprieties.
“I recognise that the IAAF still has an enormous task ahead of it to restore public confidence”, Coe said.
The investigation found Mr Diack “was responsible for organising and enabling the conspiracy and corruption” to cover up doping by Russian athletes.
But the commission report said: “This was not mere “brainstorming”.
The circle included his sons, Papa Masada Diack and Khalil Diack, and his legal counsel Habib Cisse.
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The investigators suspect athletes from other countries may also have been blackmailed and they may only have so far examined “the tip of the iceberg” of efforts to blackmail athletes, McLaren said.
