Athletics: Corruption was embedded in IAAF, says Pound

“It is increasingly clear that far more IAAF staff knew about the problems than has now been acknowledged”.

Russia’s athletics federation is set to elect a new president on Saturday.

The WADA report continued: “If, therefore, the circle of knowledge was so extensive, why was nothing done?”

World Anti Doping Agency Wada has blamed for IAAF President Lamine Diack for the corruption scandals now troubling Athletics’ top governing body.

The investigators were particularly critical of former president, Lamine Diack, who it accuses of sanctioning and facilitating corruption, including the extortion of Russian athletes who had failed doping tests.

Coe was the vice president under Diack for seven years before becoming president in August 2015, but Pound stated on Thursday he couldn’t “think of anybody better than Lord Coe” to lead the IAAF.

Diack’s sons, a former IAAF marketing consultant who was recently banned for life from the sport by the IAAF Ethics Commission, Papa Massata, and another independent consultant, Khalil, are heavily implicated, as well as Diack Sr’s lawyer and personal advisor, Habib Cisse.

The report noted that the IAAF governance process is incapable to prevent fraud and that good governance was missing in the entire body.

“The IAAF fully acknowledges and accepts the extreme gravity of the Commission’s findings”, the organization said in a statement.

Coe served as Diack’s vice-president but was backed by the chairman of the WADA report, Dick Pound, to oversee the reform of athletics.

“It is hugely disturbing that individuals at the highest levels of the IAAF were abetting and covering up doping for their own financial gain”, WADA President Sir Craig Reedie said. He said: “There’s enormous amount of reputational recovery that has to occur here and I can’t think of anyone better than Lord Coe to lead that”.

In his report he added: “The corruption was embedded in the organisation”. However, he changed his tune after WADA’s report was released and now says that while there was a cover-up, he was not aware of it. He called it “abhorrent” and a “horror show”. In the same conversation, Diack also said he had struck up a friendship with the Russian president, who has cultivated his influence with high-ranking global sport officials.

Pound has included Coe as a member of the IAAF executive who should have known about Diack’s corruption and bribery, yet in virtually the same breath promoted Coe as the saviour of athletics.

Pound said there was a “complete breakdown of governance structures and lack of accountability” at the IAAF.

The head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) believes Russian track and field athletes should be barred from competing in the Olympics, saying there was not enough time to rebuild the country’s tarnished drug-testing regime, the New York Times reported Thursday.

Athletics Australia chief Phil Jones agreed that the Briton should remain IAAF president to help restore the organisation’s reputation. That initial report led to the suspension of Russian’s track and field federation from global competition.