(ATR) The IOC tells Around the Rings it has requested transcripts from WADA’s independent commission after Tokyo's 2020 Olympic bid victory was implicated in the IAAF scandal.
"We have already asked the Independent Commission for the transcript so that we can better understand the context and the claims being made," an IOC spokesperson told ATR on Friday.
"We note that on Thursday the chairman of the IC, Richard Pound, said, ‘I am fairly confident about the Olympic side. We have done an enormous amount since 1999, to make sure that that cannot happen. If there is going to be individual bits of corruption you can’t stop all that. But organisationally I don’t think that’s an issue with the Olympics’."
A footnote in the WADA report suggests ex-IAAF president Lamine Diack, a former IOC member, switched support from Istanbul to Tokyo after Turkey decided against paying a $5 million sponsorship payment to the the Diamond League or IAAF.Japan paid the sponsorship, according to the report.
Top IAAF officials also personally "benefited" from decisions to award world championships.
Pound’s report said his commission had examined transcripts of discussions between Turkish officials and Diack’s son Khalil about the 2020 Olympic bidding contest.
"It is stated that Turkey lost LD's [Lamine Diack] support because they did not pay sponsorship moneys of $4 million to $5 million either to the Diamond League or IAAF," said the report. According to the transcript, the Japanese did pay such a sum.
The report added: "The 2020 Games were awarded to Tokyo. The IC did not investigate this matter further for it was not within our remit."
Tokyo beat Istanbul by 60 votes to 36 in the final round of voting to land 2020 hosting rights in September 2013.
Pound on Thursday recommended the IAAF "take a vigorous, forensic look" at the 2020 Olympic vote-buying allegation and the awarding of world championships to certain cities and countries.
Tokyo 2020 spokeswoman Hikariko Ono said the footnote in the report is "beyond our understanding".
"The Games were awarded to Tokyo because the city presented the best bid," she said. "Tokyo’s bid was about Japan’s commitment to address issues around the integrity of sport.
"Today, Tokyo 2020 is even more committed to contributing to safeguard the place of sport in society in these fast-changing and challenging times for sport."
Reported by Mark Bisson
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