Dick Pound’s investigation of doping among Russian athletes should be the catalyst for the new IAAF president to consume tough action against drug cheatsBribery. Corruption. Extortion. We will not know every cough and spit of Dick Pound’s independent report into systemic doping by Russian athletes until 3pm Swiss time on Monday but the grand themes and key players – including senior IAAF figures and a motley crew of Russian track and field athletes – are long established. So is the staggering fact that the report details “a whole different scale of corruption than the Fifa scandal or the IOC scandal in respect to Salt Lake City”,according to Richard McLaren, one of its co-authors.
What we attain not yet know is how Sebastian Coe, or the IAAF’s new president,will respond to Pound’s forensic dissection of his federation’s failings. But we can guess: solemn words; promises of change; perhaps a cosmetic gesture or two on a similar scale to cancelling the IAAF’s awards gala last week. It is the equivalent of a ship’s captain who faces a perfect storm yet hopes that by putting on a waterproof jacket everything will be all legal.
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Source: theguardian.com