Athletics Council, Special Congress Seek Change in Monaco

(ATR) Embroiled in corruption scandals and tarnished by doping cheats, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) opens four days of business in Monaco seeking to reform its image.

With IAAF president Sebastian Coe at the helm, the governing body’s Council meets on Wednesday and Thursday (Nov. 30 – Dec. 1), followed by the IAAF Athletics Awards on Friday evening (Dec. 2) and a Special Congress set on Saturday (Dec. 3). The Council and Congress meetings take place at the Monte Carlo Fairmont Hotel, while the Awards are being held at the Sporting Monte Carlo.

An update from Rune Andersen and the IAAF Task Force regarding the Russian athletics doping crisis and re-institution process of the All-Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF) is the main order of business on the Council’s agenda scheduled for Thursday. Russian Athletics was indefinitely suspended by the IAAF last November, a motion which was upheld in June as the country’s athletes received a blanket ban for the Rio 2016 Games.

Any significant news would be a surprise as the task force awaits the release of the Richard McLaren’s second and final report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Russian doping transgressions, particularly related to an intricate state-sponsored scheme at the Sochi 2014 Games, will be delivered on Dec. 9 in London.

Other items on the Council agenda include reports from IAAF departments, committees and organizers of various 2017 IAAF World Athletics Series of Events.

The Chinese city of Taicang is expected to be named host city for the 2018 IAAF World Race Walking, following the dismissal of Cheboksary, Russia due to the country’s doping infractions and ongoing ban. Aarhus, Denmark is the lone candidate and expected to be named host for the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

The Special Congress, which convenes on Saturday, is essentially a one issue meeting focused upon potentially ground-breaking governance structure reforms titled "Time for Change".

The IAAF Special Congress will be comprised of more than 200 representatives of every national member federation, in addition to the Council and its Honorary Members. However, no more than three delegates from each federation will be permitted.

Two new constitutions will be voted upon by the Special Congress as part of the reform package. The first will take immediate effect in 2017 and the second in 2019.

The most significant of the proposed IAAF reforms involves the development of "independent anti-doping integrity and disciplinary functions" which would begin as part of the 2017 constitution.

Three other reforms are on the table for the 2019 constitution. One involves creating an Executive Board to specifically handle business, sponsorships and general planning. This would permit a 26-member Council to focus solely on sporting issues.

The final two reforms deal with the implementation of a "greater voice for athletes" and a more equal gender balance within the Council. Specifically the reform calls for two of the four IAAF vice-presidents to be female and an equal male/female split of Council membership by 2023.

The Special Congress marks the first gathering of all IAAF member federations in Monaco since 1994.

IAAF Athlete of the Year honors will be presented at the Athletic Awards on Friday evening. Nine-time gold medalist Usain Bolt, South African 400-meter Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk and Britain’s distance running sensation Mo Farah are up for men’s Athlete of the Year.

In the running for the women’s award are Jamaican 100m and 200m Olympic champion Elaine Thompson, Ethiopian 10,000m Olympic gold medalist Almaz Ayana and two-time Olympic hammer throw champion Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland.

Written by Brian Pinelliin Monaco

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