The International Association of Athletics Federation announced on Thursday that three officials, including the son of former IAAF president Lamine Diack, will serve lifetime bans from track and field for their involvement with the Russian doping scandal uncovered last year. A fourth official will serve a five-year suspension.
The sanctions come as a result of an investigation by the IAAF Ethics Board into bribery, extortion, and blackmail of Russian athletes who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
Papa Massata Diack, former IAAF marketing consultant; Valentin Balakhnichev, Russian athletics federation president and honorary IAAF treasurer; and Alexei Melnikov, former head coach of Russia’s race walking and long distance program, are banned for life. Diack and Balakhnichev have been fined $25,000 each; Melnikov received a $15,000 fine. Gabriel Dolle, former IAAF anti-doping director, received the reduced five-year suspension.
“The life bans announced today could not send a stronger message that those who attempt to corrupt or subvert the sport of athletics will be brought to justice,” Sebastian Coe, current IAAF president, said in a written statement.
The 170-page report by the ethics board centered on Liliya Shobukhova, a Russian marathoner who allegedly paid Russian track and field officials $520,000 to avoid a doping ban before the 2012 Olympics.
Then, in 2014, Shobukhova’s blood tests showed abnormal results through the biological passport. She was stripped of all her marathon victories and given a suspension of three years, Other Hearst Subscriptions (and ended in August 2015) for her cooperation in the investigation.
The report also indicates the scheme may have involved other countries, such as Morocco and Turkey, and five other Russian athletes who are alleged to have paid cash to cover up drug test results.
The IAAF investigation is separate from a French criminal investigation of former IAAF officials that commenced in 2015. In the criminal inquiry, Lamine Diack was taken into custody in November for corruption and money laundering, suspected of taking more than $1 million to cover up athletes’ positive drug tests. In December, he confessed to the charges, saying that he asked for the money in 2011 from Balakhnichev, who has denied the accusation. Dolle was also taken into custody in France.
Next week, the World Anti-Doping Agency commission, chaired by Dick Pound, will present the second part of its investigation into widespread doping in track and field. Best Running Shoes 2025, released in November, uncovered the state-sponsored doping program in Russia, which led to the country being suspended from competition until it meets anti-doping codes.
