IAAF
overwhelmingly passes sweeping reforms
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[December 03, 2016]
By Gene Cherry
MONACO
(Reuters) - A sweeping reform package that changes how the
scandal-hit governing body of world athletics operates was
overwhelmingly passed at a special Congress on Saturday.
"This is a very important moment in the history of our sport," IAAF
president Sebastian Coe told reporters after Congress members voted
182 to 10 in favor of the reforms.
The "Time for Change" proposals, the centerpiece of Coe's agenda for
moving the sport forward from its tainted past, establish new
independent anti-doping, integrity and disciplinary functions along
with a greater voice for athletes in the organization and more
gender balance.
The reforms also place more governance power in the hands of the
IAAF Executive Board.
Previously, much of that authority rested with since disgraced
former president Lamine Diack, who along with his son Papa Massata
Diack is currently under investigation by French authorities on
corruption and money-laundering charges involving millions of euros.
Coe, who became IAAF President in 2015, said before the vote that
the changes will restore trust in athletics and return confidence to
clean athletes.
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"Our partnerships and revenue streams are directly under threat if
we do not act promptly and decisively," the Briton wrote in
introducing the proposals.
An independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigation last
year said "corruption was embedded" at the IAAF under Diack who, it
added, ran a clique that covered up organized doping and blackmailed
athletes while senior officials looked the other way.
The investigation also exposed state-sponsored Russian doping,
leading the IAAF to ban the Russian athletics federation and its
athletes from participating in this year's Rio Olympics.
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Sebastian Coe, IAAF's President, attends a press conference as part
of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
council meeting in Monaco, December 1, 2016. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
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Another report by Canadian
professor Richard McLaren on Friday is expected to reveal more
damming details on the organization and doping in Russia.
The congress concluded a four-day meeting of track and field
officials during which the IAAF decided to continue its ban on
Russian athletics.
Task force head Rune Andersen said progress had been made, but
issues still needed clarifying, including how IAAF and RUSADA
(Russian Anti-Doping) will be able to carry out testing without
interference.
The governing body also celebrated the selection of nine- times
Olympic champion Usain Bolt, who is retiring after 2017, as its male
athlete of the year for a sixth time and chose Ethiopian 10,000
meters world record holder Almaz Ayana as the top female athlete
(Editing by Ed Osmond) [©
2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]
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