IAAF President Sebastian Coe "announced a shake up" of the organization on Wednesday "aimed at ensuring there can be no repeat of the corruption scandals that have dogged athletics’ governing body during his first, tumultuous, year in office," according to Mitch Phillips of REUTERS. The "most eye catching" of a raft of "governance reforms" is a commitment for the Council to be split equally between men and women.
Currently there "are six women on a 27-member Council but the target is to make it 13 of 26 by 2023." Two athletes "will also be drafted onto the Council." The other key change "is the separation of anti-doping and ethics issues from the main business of running athletics." The proposals "have still to be rubber-stamped by the sport’s congress but that looks a forgone conclusion as they continue to fully support the reforms Coe has put in place in his first year in office" (REUTERS, 8/11).
IAAF TO CHALLENGE RULING: The London GUARDIAN reported Coe "indicated the IAAF is to challenge the ruling that suspended the monitoring of female athletes with higher than usual levels of testosterone." At the center of the ruling is South Africa’s Caster Semenya, "the likely winner of the women’s 800m final at the Olympic Games in Rio." Semenya is described as an "intersex" athlete, meaning she does not conform to typical notions of male or female bodies. She "produces testosterone at a level much higher than most women, prompting questions about whether that gives her an unfair biological advantage on the track." In April '11, the IAAF announced that "it was adopting rules and regulations governing the eligibility of females with hyperandrogenism." That ruling "was knocked back" in July '15 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Coe said, "We were surprised by the CAS decision, and I think the IOC was too. We are looking again at this issue and will be talking to CAS at some time over the next year" (GUARDIAN, 8/11).
