Frank Fredericks will stay on the IAAF Council while an ethics board reviews "allegations that he accepted payments before the awarding of the 2016 Olympics to Rio," IAAF President Sebastian Coe said on Tuesday, according to Steve Keating of REUTERS. Fredericks, an IOC member, "stepped down two weeks ago as head of the team evaluating bids to host the 2024 Olympics" and also "removed himself from the IAAF task force looking into doping in Russia." Despite the allegations, however, he will remain a member of the IAAF Council while the ethics board "determines if an investigation is necessary." Coe said, "We are speaking with Frank. He has stepped aside from the Russian task force so he has stepped aside from his functions within the council" (REUTERS, 3/22).
'STEP ASIDE': REUTERS' Karolos Grohmann reported European Athletic Association President Svein Arne Hansen called on Fredericks to "step down" from the IAAF Council, pending an investigation. Hansen's statement, which "does not name Fredericks but clearly refers to his case," comes a day after Coe said that the Namibian would stay on the council. Hansen said, "In recent weeks the IAAF Council has been confronted with new and disturbing integrity-linked accusations related to one of its members. In my personal opinion, any individual who finds themselves under such suspicion now or in the future should step aside from all their sport-related duties until the issue is resolved as it is not good for the organisation they serve." Hansen, like Fredericks, is an IAAF Council member (REUTERS, 3/22).
