(ATR) International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach fills the void on the 2024 Evaluation Commission left by Frank Fredericks with SportAccord president Patrick Baumann.
Fredericks is embroiled in a vote-buying scandal for the Rio 2016 Olympics that he staunchly denies. However, Fredericks submitted himself to the IOC Ethics Commission and voluntarily stepped down from his IOC roles, including chairing the Evaluation Commission for the 2024 Summer Games and Coordination Commission for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.
Fredericks will also recuse himself from the visits to 2024 bid cities Los Angeles and Paris, scheduled for April and May respectively, and the Candidate City Briefing set for Lausanne in July. He will also not participate in the 2024 host city election at the IOC Session in Lima, Peru on Sep. 13.
While the IOC was quick to replace Fredericks on the commission, it is still emphasizing "the presumption of innocence" for the IOC member from Namibia.
The IOC Ethics Commission also said it was not in a position to make a statement regarding the value of the allegations.
"[The Ethics Commission] recalls the importance of respecting the principle of the presumption of innocence for any person concerned by a criminal investigation," it said in a statement.
The commission did provide recommendations to the IOC Executive Board that Fredericks be removed from his role on the Summer 2024 and Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympics Evaluation Commissions, steps Fredericks had already taken upon himself.
Fredericks was replaced on the Buenos Aires 2018 CoComm with IOC member from China Lingwei Li.
Written by Kevin Nutley
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