Menu
Leagues and Governing Bodies

French Probe Eugene 2021 World Championships Decision By IAAF

The decision by the scandal-hit IAAF to award the 2021 World Athletics Championships to the American city of Eugene "is being investigated by French prosecutors," according to Mark Daly of the BBC. Eugene, closely linked to sportswear giant Nike, "was given the event without the usual bidding process." French officials "are investigating corruption allegations" involving former IAAF President Lamine Diack already. And "they have launched a fresh inquiry into how Eugene won the 2021 event." Last month, current IAAF President Sebastian Coe "severed his links to Nike two days after a BBC story suggested he had held talks with Diack and Nike about the awarding of the 2021 event while he was on the Nike payroll." Coe said at the time that he "did not lobby anyone" over Eugene's bid, but simply "encouraged them to re-enter another bidding cycle as they had a strong bid." French police, instructed by lead financial prosecutor Elaine Houlette, "have already arrested and questioned" Diack, his legal adviser Habib Cisse and Gabriel Dolle, the former long-standing head of the IAAF's anti-doping unit (BBC, 12/9). In London, Josh Burrows wrote although Coe has insisted that he "did not lobby anyone," the decision to forgo a bidding process has come under "intense scrutiny." Last month Craig Masback, a colleague of Coe’s at Nike, told Vin Lananna, the man in charge of Eugene’s bid, that Coe had "made clear his support for 2021 in Eugene." The decision "has been strongly criticised by Bjorn Eriksson, who was in charge of Gothenburg’s ignored bid to host the event." Eriksson "had previously called for a criminal investigation into the aborted bidding process" (LONDON TIMES, 12/10).

TAKING A LOOK
: The AP's John Leicester reported the financial prosecutor's office in Paris said Thursday that its probe "does not target any specific individuals at this stage." In France, preliminary probes that uncover wrongdoing "can lead to a more formal criminal investigation or prosecutors can later close them down if they find no evidence." A prosecutor said, "We have suspicions, otherwise we wouldn't open an investigation. We are within our rights to have a look. But there may be normal reasons (for the Eugene award) that will lift the suspicions" (AP, 12/10). REUTERS' Mitch Phillips wrote Coe said that "the award of the 2021 world championships to the U.S. city of Eugene without a bidding process was perfectly legitimate." Coe, who was VP of the IAAF when the games were awarded in April, told BBC Radio Four "it was not unprecedented for decisions to be made without a bidding process." Japan's Osaka "was given the 2007 event in such circumstances." Coe: "Eugene was not put forward by the IAAF but by US Track and Field. The Council decided this was the best opportunity in the foreseeable future to get the championships into the U.S. We did not have cities like Miami or Chicago falling over themselves to put themselves forward." Organizers of the Eugene event said that "they had done nothing wrong." Lananna said, "We are very proud of, and we stand by our bid. We stand by the integrity of the bid. We are 100 percent confident there has been nothing outside of what are the norms for the presentation of an IAAF bid" (REUTERS, 12/10).

'NOT WALKING AWAY': The BBC reported Coe said the athletics corruption scandal is not "bigger" than that facing FIFA in football, "with both governing bodies under criminal investigation." Asked if athletics' scandal was bigger than FIFA's, Coe said, "I don't actually believe that. I'm not walking away from the seriousness I'm confronting, but we are talking about a criminal investigation that is looking at a handful of people. That's of no comfort to me because I'm still having to do the things I'm doing now on an hourly basis to make changes" (BBC, 12/10).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2015/12/11/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Eugene-IAAF.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2015/12/11/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Eugene-IAAF.aspx

CLOSE