On-The-Scene: Doping, Anti-Gay Law Lead IAAF Chatter

(ATR) Tougher doping penalties and the controversial anti-gay legislation in Russia were hot-button topics as the 2013 IAAF Congress came to a close.

The IAAF made clear its intention to return to a minimum four-year ban for serious offenses on Jan. 1, 2015.

"We must always fight against doping," IAAF President Lamine Diack said Thursday in the run-up to the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow. "In present day society, you will always have cheats and so all we did was develop the right instruments in order to sanction. These sanctions will be, of course, harsher."

Diack lamented that when the IAAF says it does 4,000 tests, the media only focuses on the positive results.

"You don’t talk about the 3,900 that are not positive," Diack said, "so this is a fight that will never end."

Sergey Bubka, chairman of the Coordination Commission for the World Championships, said the only way for the fight against doping to succeed is to be tough.

"Clearly, today, it’s unpleasant to see some positive cases," Bubka said, "but we can see the system start to work and work well."

Diack said the punishment will be meted out on a case by case basis. Athletes who appeal for a lesser sanction than four years will have to bring elements of proof that it was not their fault.

Both Diack and Bubka said the IAAF needs to find a process to punish the coaches, trainers and other members of an athlete’s entourage. Bubka will deliver a report to the IOC Executive Board on Friday as the head of the IOC Entourage Commission.

Russian Positive Tests

The host country for the 2013 World Championships has about 40 athletes serving doping bans, but is working to solve the problem.

"Doping in sport is a very serious issue because it directly influences results and performances," said Vitaly Mutko, the Russian Minister of Sport. "It goes alongside violence, match-fixing, and betting scams. But I can tell you that the work we've done in Russia over the past four years would take most other countries ten years to accomplish."

Mutko said that Russia has invested millions of dollars setting up RUSADA and state-of-the-art laboratories as well as an educational program.

"We have also approved new laws which will mean that people who encourage athletes to take drugs will be subject to criminal investigations, leading to sanctions and penalties."

Anti-Gay Legislation Defended

Mutko grew animated when a reporter asked if Russia’s controversial legislation banning the promotion of homosexuality to minors would overshadow the festival at the Sochi Olympics.

"I want to ask you to calm down," Mutko said. "In addition to this law, we have a constitution which guarantees to all citizens rights for the private life. This law was not intended to deprive any people of any religion, any race or any sexual orientation. This law is intended to ban the promotion of non-traditional relations among the young generation.

"Rest assured that all the athletes and all the sports federations should be relaxed. We will create all the conditions, all the rights will be protected."

Mutko, who had just returned from a site visit to Sochi, said the Olympics would be held at the highest possible level. But he added, "You have to respect the laws of the country you are coming to. The athletes can come to compete. This is a sports forum. This is a sports festival."

Asked the IAAF position on the legislation, Diack said, "I don’t have the feeling that there is a problem whatsoever and I’m not worried at all."

He cited the 1980 Olympics Games boycott as an example of political pressures coming to bear on sports. Diack said Senegal resisted the call to boycott.

"I said the Olympic Games was an assembly of the whole planet and during the Olympic Games, there should be a truce for 15 or 16 days."

While Diack also echoed Mutko by saying, "This is a law. Some things have to be respected," he added, "I’m sure we’re not going to be disturbed by political problems now. Russia has its laws…We come here for athletics and each one can have his own private life and do what he wants in his private life."

Next IAAF President?

Talk of Diack’s successor as IAAF President has been a swirling for several years. Now Diack, who has said he will retire in 2015, is entering his bell lap. But is the 80-year-old from Senegal grooming his successor?

Abby Hoffman, an IAAF Council member from Canada, said she’s not sure there is a succession plan.

"I think people may feel there’s a plan because if Lamine Diack is in a room with Seb Coe, that gets interpreted as some kind of signal," Hoffman tells Around the Rings. "If he’s in a room with Sergey Bubka, it’s supposedly a symbol.

I heard the other day somebody reported that the president said that he would identify his successor and that is not something that I have actually ever heard him say."

Hoffman was citing an article in the Telegraph,in which Diack was quoted saying, "I will say who must be my successor and the reason why. Then the house can decide whether they want to follow or not. If they say yes, then OK. If not, I will organize a faircompetition, but expecting the one I believe to be the best will win."

The Telegraph added, "History suggests Diack will get his way since there has never been a contested election for the IAAF presidency."

Hoffman says she does not know what Diack’s motivation would be for choosing his successor.

"I don’t see anyone out here now whose principle motivation is to undo what Lamine Diack has done since he became president," she says. "So if there’s no threat to his legacy, why would he go out and back someone and leave a lot of bad feeling about why is he doing that? I just don’t see that happening, but then I may be living in a dream world, too."

Hoffman adds that if she were counseling Diack, she would tell him that choosing sides is "not a supersmart thing to do."

"I think people are perfectly capable of judging who they think is the right person for the organization as they see it."

Although Bubka, who is running for IOC president, and Coe are considered the main rivals for the job, more candidates could enter the fray.

The heat from the rumor mill is "already higher than room temperature," Hoffman said, "but I don’t think we’re going to see an aggressive push for another six months or so."

Frank Fredericks, IAAF Council member from Namibia, is coy on the subject of the next IAAF President.

"Who’s standing?" he asked with a straight face. "Do you know? Nobody has talked to me about it."

Obeying the Code

The IAAF established an official code of ethics during the Congress.

"It is very important for us to have a modern code of ethics and procedures to back it up and cover a wide range of subjects that are currently challenging to many organizations," IAAF senior vice president Robert Hersh tells Around the Rings. "We now have the proper vehicles for dealing with these subjects.We certainly hope we don’t have problems, but if we do, at least we have the code structure, the legal structure and the commitment to a set of ethical principles that is represented by this new code of ethics."

Ollan Cassell, former IAAF Council member from the U.S., said the most important piece of the code is the ability to establish an independent commission that will have the authority to hold hearings and call witnesses.

He said coaches and other members of an athlete’s entourage could be called before the commission in order to be sanctioned if an athlete is guilty of doping. The commission does not go into effect until 2014.

"I would like to see them do it immediately," Cassell said.

Written by Karen Rosen in Moscow

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