Pound’s report for the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) added to a rapidly growing scandal involving organised doping and its concealment that has rocked world athletics and drawn comparisons with a corruption and governance scandal at the global soccer federation, FIFA. Also under criminal investigation in France are Diack’s former legal counsel, Habib Cisse, and the IAAF’s former director of anti-doping, Gabriel Dolle.
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The report said that Diack created an inner circle “which filtered and funnelled communications to and from senior IAAF staff, ultimately functioning as an informal illegitimate governance structure outside the formal IAAF governance structure … when it came to dealing with anti-doping matters related to Russian track and field athletes”.
The Council “could not have been unaware of the extent of doping” and the breaking of anti-doping rules and “could not have been unaware of the level of nepotism” under Diack, it said.
When asked, several times, if current IAAF President Sebastian Coe should resign from his position, Pound defended him and said it was a failure of governance that led to the problems, which seemed to contradict the language of the report.
Dolle escaped a life ban because his offenses involved “omission, not commission”, the committee said.
Papa Massata Diack is wanted by French authorities via Interpol.
Back in August British newspaper The Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD released reports based upon access they had obtained to a massive database of blood test results, and alleged widespread doping in the sport and the complicity of the IAAF.
The IAAF announced on January 5 a number of initiatives to prevent this happening again and Athletics NZ strongly urged the adoption of the remaining recommendations contained in the report to ensure that the situation didn’t happen again and to regain trust in the sport.
Pound stated that he believes Coe is the best man to lead the IAAF out of crisis and back to credibility.
Athletics’ reputation was severely tarnished last November when the first part of the report made allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia, which led to the IAAF suspending Russian athletes from competition.
Pound still produced a litany of accusations against the IAAF.
– Former WADA president Pound said he is unable to give a timeframe for Russia’s ban from athletics to be lifted.
The report says that eventually none of the nine athletes competed but none had their disciplinary cases followed up.
IAAF president Lord Coe is under increasing pressure after a new report claimed “corruption was embedded” within his organisation. He is suspected of taking more than 1 million euros ($1.1 million) to blackmail athletes and cover up positive tests. “My suspicion is that at some point there will be a similar investigation of Kenya”.
Another commission member Richard McClaren said the named runners who had been blackmailed, including the 2010 London marathon victor Liliya Shobukhova, may only be “the tip of the iceberg with respect to athletes who have been extorted”.
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The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) suspended Russia over the report, raising concerns that Russian track and field stars could be sidelined from this summer’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
