Approved IAAF Reforms to Act as Anti-Corruption Safety Net

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The approved package of reforms for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) will increase stability, enabling the prevention of further instances of corruption, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said on Saturday.

Earlier on Saturday, the IAAF Special Congress in Monaco voted in favor of adopting Coe’s Time for Change reform package, with 182 countries voting in favor of the reforms, and just 10 against. The package also includes more gender balance, broader vetting of IAAF officials, and limiting council members, including the president, to no more than three four-year terms.

"We now have frameworks and foundations that will create a safety net… The integrity unit that will mean a very different approach to results management. It will remove national interest, it will remove national federations, it will create an independent discipline tribunal, it will speed up the process of sanctions… The executive board that will have independent nominations through the sports, the federations, that can support and supply that extra ballast," Coe said at a press conference.

Coe took office in August 2015, taking over from Lamine Diack, under whom several former senior IAAF officials were found to be involved in bribing athletes over positive doping tests. Diack, along with his son Papa Massata Diack, is currently under investigation by French authorities on corruption and money-laundering charges.