Resignations crop up in world athletics

Former IAAF chief steps down from IOC post, Russian lab head quits

LAUSANNE/MOSCOW: Shamed former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president Lamine Diack has resigned from his position on the International Olympic Committee (IOC), where he had served as an honorary member, said the IOC on Wednesday.

The 82-year-old Diack, who is being probed over corruption charges, “has resigned from his position as an honorary member of the IOC,” said IOC presidency spokesman Mark Adams in an email sent to AFP.

Diack had been provisionally suspended by the IOC on Tuesday evening. He became an honorary member of the committee in 2013.

The Senegalese national served as head of the IAAF for 16 years until August.

Australia backs call to ban Russia from Rio Olympics

Meanwhile, the head of Russia’s anti-doping laboratory also resigned hours after his laboratory was suspended over accusations it was part of state-sponsored doping programme that experts fear could snowball into an international crisis for the sport.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has accused Grigory Rodchenkov of being at the heart of a scheme to cover up widespread use of illegal drugs among Russian athletes, including deliberately destroying positive test samples. 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2015.

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