IOC suspends former IAAF president

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) provisionally suspended the honorary membership of former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president Lamine Diack on Tuesday.

"The IOC's Executive Board decided this afternoon to confirm the proposal of the IOC Ethics Commission to provisionally suspend Mr. Lamine Diack, the former President of IAAF, from his honorary membership of the IOC," the IOC said in a statement.

The IOC also called for the IAAF to start disciplinary action against athletes accused of doping in the recent report from the World Anti-Dpoing Agency (WADA).

French investigators recently arrested the 82-year-old Diack, who was IAAF president for 16 years before stepping down last August. They are investigating him on corruption charges after police raided IAAF headquarters in Monaco.

Diack resigned from the International Athletics Foundation - a non-profit organization assisting athletes, administrators, coaches, and national athletic federations - following the IOC's announcement, the IAAF announced on Tuesday.

Doping report

Diack's arrest came a few days before WADA released a report containing the results of an independent commission investigation into doping. The report called for four coaches and nine athletes of the Russian track and field team - including 2012 Olympic 800m bronze medalist Ekaterina Poistogova - to be given disciplinary sanctions.

The IOC also asked the IAAF to "initiate disciplinary procedures against all athletes, coaches and officials who have participated in the Olympic Games and are accused of doping in the report of the (WADA) Independent Commission."

"With its zero-tolerance policy against doping, following the conclusion of this procedure, the IOC will take all the necessary measures and sanctions with regard to the withdrawal and reallocation of medals and, as the case may be, exclusion of coaches and officials from future Olympic Games."

Sebastian Coe, Diack's successor as IAAF president, revealed Monday the IAAF has already initiated a process of imposing sanctions on Russia.

No doubt over Sochi

The IOC also issued a statement Tuesday affirming there was no reason to doubt anti-doping results from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi despite concerns voiced by WADA.

The WADA report detailed the presence of the Russian secret service in a Moscow laboratory before the Sochi Olympics, which "supported allegations of state influence in sporting events". WADA suspended the accreditation of the laboratory. The head of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, Nikita Kamaev, announced Tuesday the lab had closed its operations.

However, the IOC said it had "studied the functioning of the WADA accredited laboratory in Sochi during the Olympic Winter Games 2014 following the doubts expressed during the Independent Commission's press conference."

"In this context the IOC relies on the then report of the WADA independent observer group which makes no mention of any such irregularity," the IOC said.

"Nor was any such irregularity reported by the international experts involved, nor found by the IOC itself. Therefore, the IOC has no reason to question the credibility of the results of the anti-doping tests carried out at the Olympic Winter Games 2014," the IOC concluded.

dv/ (AFP, Reuters)