IAAF Council Beijing 2006 (© sports.cn)
BeijingIAAF Council met today in the Hotel Kunlun, Beijing, following a highly successful edition of the World Junior Championships in the Chinese capital. China’s vice-minister of Sport Duan Shijie, welcomed the Council members and spoke of Beijing’s enthusiasm for the sport of athletics: “These World Junior Championships have been an excellent test, which will be used to good effect when the world’s best athletes come to Beijing in 2008 for the Olympic Games. In partnership with the Olympic organizers BOCOG, the city of Beijing and the Chinese athletics association, we made every effort to ensure that the World Junior Championships, which welcomed close to 2000 athletes, not only promoted the sport of athletics but also served as the ideal dress rehearsal for the Olympics, just two years before the Games.”
IAAF President Lamine Diack said: “From our arrival at the airport, until the Closing Ceremony last night, our sport has been treated impeccably, and we are now certain that the organization of the athletics events at the 2008 Games will be of an excellent standard. We also wanted to promote our sport in China, which is more than just another country to us, and we want athletics to be one of the key sports here. China got more athletes into finals than any other country here at the World Juniors, and this is an excellent indication of the country’s potential.”
In his introduction, IAAF President Lamine Diack summarised his activities since the last Council Meeting and expressed his personal disappointment with the positive test result of Justin Gatlin. Diack told his Council colleagues that the credibility of the sport continues to be seriously damaged by the activities of cheats and that the IAAF, despite its long established leadership role in anti-doping, must devise imaginative strategies and devote even more resources to this struggle.
Here are the main items of news from the first day’s Council sessions:
IAAF/Area Associations Meeting
The IAAF/Area Associations Meeting took place on 15 June in Paris and all Area Presidents, General Secretaries and Area Group Representatives on the Council were present. During the one-day meeting the main topics of discussion were:
- Harmonisation of the international calendar with a suggestion from IAAF Vice-President Dapeng Lou that there be “protected dates” for National Championships;
- Automatic qualification at World Championships of Continental Champions with an additional suggestion from Mr Lou that for 2011, 75% of the qualifying athletes be submitted by the Areas;
- Decentralisation.
These suggestions will be studied during the next Competition Commission Meeting on 10 November in Monaco.
Montenegro and Serbia
On 24 July 2006 President Diack requested that the IAAF Council submit its opinion regarding Montenegro’s application for IAAF Membership. Eighteen Council Members replied favourably to the application and on 27 July 2006 the Athletics Federation of Montenegro became the 212th IAAF Member.
Montenegro’s affiliation will be on the Agenda of the 46th IAAF Congress in Osaka, Japan in August of 2007, during which confirmation as the 212th Member of the IAAF must be obtained by a Special Majority.
Investigation on Age Manipulation is still on-going
Based on strong suspicion of age manipulation regarding KEN/BRN athletes who competed for Bahrain during the World Youth Championships in Marrakech in 2005 (two of whom won gold medals) IAAF Council has been carrying out an investigation since August 2005. Since then, President Diack has paid a visit to the Bahrain Athletics Association and IAAF Legal Counsel Huw Roberts went to Kenya to gather information from the Department of Civil Registration as well as the offices of Athletics Kenya in Nairobi.
The matter was also discussed during the President’s recent meeting in Monaco (25 July 2006) with the Honourable Maina Kamanda, Kenyan Minister for Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services in the presence of Isaiah Kiplagat. Unfortunately, despite all these efforts, the situation is still progressing slowly and only 1 birth certificate has been obtained to date.
Nonetheless, disciplinary files have now been opened in accordance with IAAF Rules in the names of the following 3 athletes: Dennis Kipkurui (Taher Tarak Mubaraq), John Yego (Belal Mansour Ali) and Hosea Kosgei (Khamis Aadam).
Fukuoka 2006
Kenyan athlete Longosiwa Thomas Pkemei’s age has been falsified at the 34th IAAF World Cross Country Championships (2 April), where he competed with a registered date of birth of 14 January 1982 in the Junior Men’s Race (instead of 1988). The athlete has been jailed by the Kenyan authorities. The matter is being investigated by the IAAF and his performance (13th, 24:25) will be annulled. Since the athlete placed 5th, and was “non-scoring” this annulment will not affect the first place ranking of the Kenyan team.
USATF proposes new notification procedure
The IAAF learned of the positive test result of 100m co-world record holder Justin Gatlin on 29 July from a press statement by the athlete’s management, even though USA Track and Field had been aware of the result on 14 June.
Following a letter on this subject from the IAAF, USATF has agreed to take immediate steps to remedy any deficiencies in procedures regarding the notification of positive test results. In the case of Gatlin, USATF believed that USADA had been communicating directly with IAAF, which was not the case, and accepted that, in future, they would immediately notify the IAAF of the name of the athlete and the substance for which a laboratory has reported a positive A sample. In addition, Council was also informed that USATF has convened a Task Force to develop additional ways to deter athletes from using banned substances and to establish procedures and rules that will allow the federation to remove problem coaches, medical personnel and managers from the sport.
Transfer of Allegiance
The following Transfers of Allegiance have been noted since the last Council Meeting.
Name From To Date
ABYU Thomas ETH GBR 6/12/2006
BAKHTACHE Abdelkhader ALG FRA 01/29/2005
BARRETT Kimberli JAM PUR 8/12/2006
DOYLE Brian GBR IRL 7/31/2006
HESS Mirjam SUI LUX 7/17/2006
MARTINOVIC SESTAK Marija SCG SLO 7/13/2007
MONTAGUE Adam AUS USA 7/27/2006
RADULOVIC Milan SCG BIH 4/14/2006
ROBINSON Taneisha IRL GBR 10/10/2006
SIMPSON Brandon JAM BRN 9/29/2006
TUNKS Lieja NED CAN 6/26/2007
2006 World Athletics Day included Schools
The 2006 edition of the World Athletics Day was held on 6/7 May 2006, with for the first time an option to associate school participation. 156 Member Federations announced their intention took part in this project and 136 of them decided to organise it also with school participation.
- Record of number of participants: BRA, ETH, MGL, PHI and ROM with more than 1,000 athletes.
- Record of spectators: BRA, BDI, BEN, ETH, JPN with more than 10,000 fans in attendance.
- Participation of Champions, eg: in China (with Former Olympic Champions), Italy (Giuseppe Gibilisco), Denmark (Wilson Kipketer), Portugal (Francis Obikwelu) and Germany (Heike Drechsler).
Anastasiya Rabchenyuk, who was a WAD winner in 2002, made the final of the Women’s 400m Hurdles at the 2006 European Championships in Göteborg.
New member for IAAF Marketing & Promotion Commission
Council agreed with a proposal from President Diack to make Werner Gegenbauer a member of the Marketing & Promotion Commission. Gegenbauer, who is a prominent German business man based in Berlin, played a key role in the successful Berlin Bid for the 2009 IAAF World Championships.
World Road Running Championships 2006 – Debrecen
Council approved the following timetable for 8 October:
11:00 Women’s 20km Race
13:00 Men’s 20km Race
World Cup in Athletics 2006 – Athens
The European Teams qualified for the World Cup are
Men: FRA, RUS
Women: RUS, POL.
During their visit to Athens on 4 August the President and the General Secretary had a meeting with representatives of the local organising committee regarding the general organisation of this event and the importance of local promotion to ensure a good crowd in the stadium.
World Cross Country Championships 2007 – Mombasa
Council agreed the following Timetable for 24 March:
15:30 Junior Women’s Race
16:05 Junior Men’s Race
16:40 Senior Women’s Race
17:20 Senior Men’s Race
18:00 Start of all Awards Ceremony
World Youth Championships 2007 – Ostrava
Council approved the Timetable.
World Championships in Athletics 2007 - Osaka
Olympic Games 2008 – Beijing
The Qualifying Method is almost finalised and the last point which is to be discussed with the IOC was the deadline for qualifying performances achieved. Following President Diack’s meeting with President Rogge the following compromise was reached: an official deadline of 23 July was set, but additional athletes might be accepted if they have achieved the qualifying performance between 24 and 30 July and for exceptional cases qualifying performances up to 5 August could be taken into consideration (exact procedure still to be defined).
Timetable
The Timetable has been prepared with the Technical Delegates and BOCOG and will be submitted for Council’s approval in November of this year.
The morning sessions are scheduled to commence at 9:00am (with the exception of the starts of the Marathon and Race Walking which will be at 7:30am) and the evening sessions at 7:00pm (19:00).
World Championships in Athletics 2009 – Berlin
Council approved Manolo Romero’s nomination as Television Delegate for these championships.
World Cup in Athletics 2010 - Split
Following a requested evaluation by IAAF Vice-President Dapeng Lou and Honorary Treasurer Jean Poczobut, of the LOC’s progress in preparation to host the 2010 World Cup, Council confirmed Split, Croatia as the venue for the World Cup in Athletics in 2010.
Record bidders for IAAF World Championships in Athletics 2011
A record number of bidders have declared an interest in hosting the 2011 edition of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. The bid documentation has been sent to the 9 candidates: Australia, Croatia, Korea, Morocco, Russia, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, and United States of America
The candidates have now been informed of a number of criteria to substantiate their bid, relating to operational budget, organizational experience, spectator capacity and other issues.
Bidders have also been informed of the following schedule:
In October: an information seminar for all bidders will be organised in Monaco;
By 1 December 2006: All completed and signed Bidding Documents as well as appendices must be submitted to IAAF;
An evaluation of the Bid Cities will take place between December-2006 and February 2007:
In March 2007, Bid Cities will present their candidature to the IAAF Council and the host of the Championships will be named.
IAAF World Athletics Tour (WAT) Working Group set up
In 2004 the One-Day Meetings Working Group was established to conduct a specific task: to evaluate the one-day meetings’ structure and propose a simpler; more coherent structure with meeting categories, criteria and evaluations. As a result, the World Athletics Tour was introduced in 2006.
IAAF Council agreed that a WAT Working Group should be established to monitor and evaluate the implantation of the new structure. The Working Group will be composed of:
• Dapeng Lou (CHN) – IAAF Vice President, Chairman of IAAF Competitions Commission
• Hansjorg Wirz (SUI) – EAA President, Member of IAAF Competition Commission
• Roberto Gesta de Melo (BRA) – IAAF Council Member, South America Area Rep
• José Luis de Carlos (ESP) – Chairman of EAA Competition Commission
• Pierre Weiss (FRA) – IAAF General Secretary
• Sandro Giovannelli (ITA) – Advisor to IAAF President
• Craig Masback (USA) – USA Track & Field CEO
• Wilfried Meert (BEL) – IAAF Golden League Meeting Director
• Rajne Soderberg (SWE) – IAAF Super Grand Prix Meeting Director
• Daniel Wessfeldt (SWE) – IAAF Athletes’ Representative
Council Approved the Competition Calendar for 2007
IAAF WORLD ATHLETICS SERIES 2007
MARCH Sat 24 35th IAAF World Cross Country Chps Mombasa, KEN
JULY Wed 11-Sun15 5th IAAF World Youth Chps Ostrava, CZE
AUGUST Sat 25-Sun 2 Sept 11th IAAF World Chips in Athletics Osaka, JPN
SEPTEMBER Sat 22-Sun 23 IAAF World Athletics Final Stuttgart, GER
OCTOBER Sun 14 IAAF World Road Running Chps Udine, ITA
IAAF INDOOR PERMIT MEETINGS 2007
JANUARY Sun 28 MOSCOW RUS
FEBRUARY Fri 2 NEW YORK USA
Sat 3 STUTTGART GER
Sat 10 VALENCIA ESP
Sun 11 KARLSRUHE GER
Sun 11 GHENT BEL
Sun 18 BIRMINGHAM GBR
Tue 20 STOCKHOLM SWE
Sat 24 ATHENS GRE
Note:
February Fri 23 – Sun 25: US Championships, Boston
March Fri 2 – Sun 4: European Indoor Championships, Birmingham, GBR
IAAF CROSS COUNTRY PERMIT MEETINGS 2006/2007
NOVEMBER Sun 12 OEIRAS POR
Sun 26 LLODIO ESP
DECEMBER Sun 17 BRUSSELS BEL
JANUARY Sat 6 BELFAST GBR
Sat 13 (tbc) EDINBURGH GBR
Sun 14 (tbc) SEVILLA ESP
FEBRUARY Sat 10 (tbc) NAIROBI KEN
Sun 11(tbc) DIEKIRCH LUX
Sun 11 CHIBA JPN
Sun 25 ALBUFEIRA POR
MARCH Sun 4 SAN VITTORE ITA
IAAF OUTDOOR PERMIT MEETINGS - WORLD ATHLETICS TOUR 2007
MARCH Sun 11 MELBOURNE AUS
APRIL Sat 28 DAKAR SEN
MAY Sat 5 OSAKA JPN
Fri 11 DOHA QAT
Sun 20 BELEM BRA
Sat 26 HENGELO NED
JUNE Sun 10 EUGENE USA
Fri 15 OSLO NOR
Mon 18 HELSINKI FIN
Wed 27 OSTRAVA CZE
JULY Mon 2 ATHENS GRE
Wed 4 ZAGREB CRO
Fri 6 PARIS FRA
Tue 10 LAUSANNE SUI
Fri 13 ROME ITA
Sun 15 SHEFFIELD GBR
Sat 21 MADRID ESP
Sun 29 MONACO MON
AUGUST Fri 3 LONDON GBR
Tue 7 STOCKHOLM SWE
SEPTEMBER Fri 7 ZURICH SUI
Tue 11 RIETI ITA
Fri 14 BRUSSELS BEL
Sun 16 (tbc) BERLIN GER
Note:
June Sat 23 - Sun 24 European Cups
June Thu 21 – Sun 24 US Championships
September Sat 22 & Sun 23 IAAF World Athletics Final Stuttgart, GER
AREA PERMIT MEETINGS QUALIFYING FOR THE WAF
(to be discussed after the 2006 evaluation)
IAAF WORLD COMBINED EVENTS CHALLENGE 2007
Individual IAAF Permit Meetings
MAY Sat 5 & Sun 6 DESENZANO ITA
Sat 26 & Sun 27 GÖTZIS AUT
JUNE Sat 2 & Sun3 ARLES FRA
Sat 16 & Sun 17 RATINGEN GER
SEPTEMBER Sat 15 & Sun 16 TALENCE FRA
IAAF WORLD RACE WALKING CHALLENGE 2007
MARCH 10 TLANEPANTLA DE BAZ MEX
24 KUNSHAN CHN
APRIL 14 RIO MAJOR POR
MAY 1 SESTO SAN GIOVANNI ITA
JUNE 2 LA CORUNA ESP
JUNE 23 (tbc) KRAKOW POL
SEP 29 (tbc) 1st IAAF RWC Final, Saransk, RUS
New World Race Walking Final Approved
Council approved a recommendation from the Race Walking Committee’s regarding the 2007 Calendar of the IAAF Race walking challenge which entails a “Final” from 2007, Council approved Russia (Saransk) as the host of the 1st IAAF World Race Walking Challenge Final in 2007.
Council also approved the following list of Area Race Walking Judges who made the grade at the seminar/examination in Canberra from 9-12 June 2005:
Geoff ANNEAR NZL
Jacquie CATTERMOLE AUS
Diane LOWDEN AUS
Lyn MILES AUS
Heather MITCHELL AUS
Peter WRIGLEY NZL.
Junior Men’s 110mH/Junior Men’s Decathlon – Hurdle Height
In 2005, IAAF Congress approved the change of Rule 168.3 with regards to the height of the hurdles for the Junior Men’s 110m from 1.067m to 0.990m, with a tolerance of +1cm (1.000m).
The current World Records for the Junior Men’s 110mH of 13.12 by Xiang Liu on 12 July 2002 and the Junior Men’s Decathlon of 8397 points by Torsten Voss on 6/7 July 1982 are performances achieved with the former hurdle height (1.067m).
Council agreed that these World Records should stand as the performances to surpass in order to achieve a new World Record in these events with the new Hurdle height.
Medical & Anti-Doping
Testing
The following tests have been carried out so far in 2006 by the IAAF:
Testing Urine samples Blood samples
In-Competition 745 386
Out-of-Competition 786 166
16 of these have been concluded as positive. This means a percentage of 1%, with 99% of the athletes confirmed as clean.
So far in 2006, IAAF doping sample officers have reported 166 unsuccessful attempts to collect out of competition samples from athletes. From this total, after investigation, 22 have been defined as “Missed Tests”.
Education / Information Activities
- Introduction of results management section on IAAF website with a running list of doping rule violations and announcements of provisional suspensions;
- Athlete Outreach (educational) Programme at African Championships in Mauritius and at Beijing World Junior Championships (in conjunction with IAAF Athlete Ambassador project);
- Joint IAAF / EAA anti-doping delegate workshop (training, information updates);
- distribution of email updates to IAAF Athletes Commission and Medical & Anti-Doping Commission / distribution of updates to RTP athletes also.
- Distribution of the “2006 Prohibited list” and the “OOC testing guide” brochures to 600 athletes and MFs and the 2006 Procedural Guidelines for Doping Control;
Online Whereabouts
In June the system was launched with a pool of athletes. The feedback received since is satisfactory. Athletes have sent their positive comments as well as some useful suggestions. Moreover, IDTM, WADA, National Agencies and Athletes’ Representatives have requested receiving the Whereabouts and one of the next steps could be to share the data in a secure environment.
IAAF World Anti-Doping Symposium – Lausanne, Switzerland
Over 200 participants already confirmed their attendance at the IAAF World Anti-Doping Symposium that will take place in Lausanne on 30 September-1 October 2006.
Arbitration - Cases concluded in IAAF favour
Since the last Council meeting, the following 7 CAS arbitrations have been concluded, all of them in the IAAF’s favour.
- Eddy Hellebuyck (USA)
- Maurren Maggi (BRA)
- Jamel Ahrass (FRA)
- Konstantinos Kenteris/Ekaterina Thanou (GRE)
- Christos Tzekos (GRE)
- Maria Papadopoulou (GRE)
WADA Code Revision
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has decided to conduct a detailed revision of the WADA Code during an international seminar which is scheduled to take place in Madrid, Spain in autumn of 2007.
As part of this exercise, ASOIF has already begun to contact International Federations with regards to the sanctions and the proposals put forward are to the contrary of those upheld by the IAAF Congress in Helsinki. The President, in the media, to ASOIF and WADA has made the IAAF’s position clear: we seek stronger sanctions and support raising the sanction from 2 to 4 year for a first doping offence.
A meeting between WADA, ASOIF and IAAF is scheduled for the end of November 2006 in Monaco.
It should be noted that all Olympic Federations have adopted the WADA Code. However, as part of the UNESCO International Convention, 30 individual Government ratifications are needed for the treaty to enter into force, and so far, only about half of the required number have signed up.
Promotion through Broadcasting
Since the last Council Meeting in March the Department’s day-to-day work has consisted of the following:
- Production of Athletix - our TV Magazine: 20 weekly editions during the summer season which are now co-produced with TWI/IMG;
- Organisation of Seminars: IAAF TV Seminar for African Broadcasters in Fez, Morocco on 16/17 April and TV Seminar in Beijing, China from 4-6 June.
IAAF High Performance Training Centres (HPTCs)
The IAAF High Performance Training Centres (HPTC) provide centres of excellence for the training and development of international class athletes and coaches. The Centres are managed and supervised under IAAF control. At present there are a total of 82 selected athletes training in 8 Centres around the world:
Asia: 9 athletes
Cuba: 1 athlete
Dakar (SEN): 26 athletes (including 4 from Liberia)
Eldoret (KEN): 11 athletes
Kingston (JAM): 12 athletes
Mauritius: 8 athletes
Oceania: 10 athletes
South America: 5 athletes
Thirty-eight of the 82 athletes have been awarded Olympic Solidarity (OS) scholarships. Some of these athletes have already achieved outstanding performances:
- Irving Saladino (PAN) is leading the world list in the long jump with 8.56m (PB);
- Usain Bolt (JAM) is N˚ 3 in the world list in the 200m with 19.88s (PB);
- Jermain Gonzales (JAM) is N˚12 in the world list in the 400m with 44.85s (PB).
Also of note: Daniel Kipchirchir Komen who is leading the 1500m list for 2006 with 3:29.02, was at the Eldoret HPTC until last year; Ezekiel Kemboi is still training at HPTC Eldoret and Janeth Jepkosgei, who became World Junior Champion when she was at Eldoret, is now leading the 800m list with 1:56.66.
It is expected that a high number out of these 82 athletes will qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.
“B Standard” Project
The IAAF has set a goal that at least one athlete of each of the 212 Member Federations be capable of achieving the “B” Qualification Standard for the World Championships in Athletics or the Olympic Games. Seventy-eight countries were entitled to apply for a B-Standard Scholarship and the IAAF received 51 scholarship applications from 25 countries.
After evaluation of the applications, 30 athletes from 28 countries (19 B-Standard and 11 Elite Scholarship/IAAF Financial Support holders) have benefited from this Project in 2006 with the IAAF helping them ensure access to adequate facilities and coaching.
IAAF Kids’ Athletics
Exhibitions
Several exhibitions have been staged in different countries and some MFs have launched a national programme (BRN, MAS, PUR, SIN). The Malaysian Federation in particular, launched a huge national programme for Kids’ Athletics: 30 centres encompassing all the Malaysian regions were opened on the same day.
Education
Two pilot courses for Kids’ Athletics took place: the first in Mauritius from 30 July to 6 August (English and French), where 13 English-speaking and 13 French-speaking MFs were invited, and the second in Beijing from 9 to 16 August where 24 candidates took part. The Kids’ Athletics Competition Book has been updated, revised and sent to all RDCs and also the Kids’ Athletics Educational Book has been finalised.
Coaching
IAAF Academy
Three Courses have already been organised:
- 2-9 May, Loughborough: Coaching Development Director Pilot Course;
- 4 -17 June, Nairobi: Chief Coach Course;
- 26 June-9 July, San Juan: Chief Coach Course.
IAAF Coaches Education and Certification System CECS
Sixteen CECS Level I Coaches Courses were staged during the period March to August 2006 (Appendix I, page 18).
The IAAF’s Member Services department is completing the restructuring of the CECS and developing new material for the courses. The “new” system will have 5 levels and is in alignment with the AEHESIS (Aligning a European Higher Educational Structure In Sport Science) governed by the European Commission, and the ICCE (International Council for Coach Education).
The 5 Levels will be:
Level I Animator
Level II Youth Coach
Level III Associate Coach
Level IV Senior Coach
Level V Academy Coach (Professional Level Coaches)
A workshop with future Level IV Lecturers has been organised in Frankfurt (GER) during which the structure, contents and materials were finalised Pilot Courses for 3 of the 6 planned new Level IV Courses have been successfully conducted and the remaining 3 will follow later this year.
The new Level I and II Courses have been organised by the School/Youth Commission. The process of incorporating them into the new CECS structure depends on the feedback from the pilot courses which took place in Mauritius and Beijing.
REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS
IAAF Cross Country & Road Running Committee
The IAAF Cross Country & Road Running Committee met in Fukuoka, Japan on 3 April 2006 on the occasion of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
Council agreed that the IAAF should hire a permanent Staff Member as Road Running Liaison who would work solely for improving the competition structure and improve collaboration with the AIMS. This person could also work on the permit system, assist with the calendar and deal with general administration and promotion of events.
It was also agreed that a small Working Group will be set up to study the situation of Road Running. It will include:
• Lamine Diack or representative from IAAF Council
• Otto Klappert (GER) - CC&RR Committee Chairman
• David Bedford (GBR) and Carlos Cordoso (POR) – CC&RR Committee Members
• Mary Wittenberg (USA) - ING NY Marathon and Marathon Major Representative,
• Hiroaki Chosa (JPN) - AIMS representative,
• Pierre Weiss (FRA) IAAF General Secretary.
The group will review the structure of road running and look how to link the IAAF World Road Running Championships to existing, successful mass races while avoiding a clash of interest with sponsors and other rights holders. Council agreed to consider future proposals that the IAAF World Road Running Championships be linked to an existing race from 2010 (bearing in mind the marketing aspects).
IAAF Race Walking Committee
The IAAF Race Walking Committee met in La Coruña (Spain) on May 15th 2006 on the occasion of the 22nd IAAF World Race Walking Cup. The Chairman expressed his satisfaction for a very successful edition of the IAAF World Race Walking Cup and congratulated the Spanish Organisers for their excellent work
Reports on the Race Walking activities included the results of the major events staged in 2005/2006 as well as a summary of the educational and development activities and were briefly commented. As in the past, some concern emerged for the scarce development of race walking in some Areas, especially in Africa, Asia, NACAC and South America.
Council agreed that Gabriel Roldan, Soliman Hagar, Fausto Mendoza and S. Vegiyathuman form a sub-working group to develop a development project for consideration by the IAAF Member Services Department.
IAAF Juridical Commission
The IAAF Juridical Commission met in Paris on 17/18 July 2006 in order to continue its work on the items set out in the Work Plan that had been confirmed by the IAAF Council in Osaka.
Licensing of Athlete Representatives
Council reviewed the work that had been conducted by IAAF Office and the Commission and noted in particular the results of the questionnaires that had been sent out to the Members, athletes and athlete representatives to obtain their respective views on the current IAAF system and on how it should be improved/changed. Commission members Habib Cissé and Jack Agrios are preparing a written proposal of new Regulations which would be presented to the Council in November. This would incorporate at least the following principles:
- a criminal background check
- a written examination to be taken (set by the IAAF)
- professional liability insurance (or bank guarantee)
- adherence to a code of conduct
- standard form contract between the athlete representative and athlete.
Recovery of prize money in doping cases and related issues
Prize money at IAAF World Athletics Series Competitions
Council had a long discussion concerning the issue of recovering prize money from athletes who test positive. Council reconfirmed the following procedure in the payment of prize money at IAAF World Athletics Series competitions:
No payments will be made until the results of any doping controls at the event have been returned;
If the results are all negative, all payments can be made;
If any doping control gives rise to an adverse finding, no payment is made to the athlete concerned, but payments can be made to all other athletes on the basis of their actual placings in the event;
when the adverse finding is confirmed as a doping violation in a final and binding decision, the results will be duly revised and the so-called “upgraded” athletes can be paid an additional amount being the difference between the prize money for their final placing and the amount they were paid earlier;
if the athlete is exonerated of a doping violation in a final and binding decision, the final result can be confirmed and the ”cleared” athlete is paid the amount to which he/she is entitled. No further action is required in relation to the other athletes who have already received their prize money based on their placings in the event on the day.
Athletes found positive retroactively
Council noted that the return of prize money as a condition to reinstatement is already covered by the current Rule 40.11. Council agreed that wording should be added to Rule 40.11 to make it clear that the return of medals and prize money to the IAAF is a condition precedent to an athlete´s reinstatement and also to Rule 40 to make it clear that the so-called "upgraded" athlete will be paid retroactively only if the IAAF recovers money from the disqualified athlete.
Transfers of allegiance/nationality
It was reported that a database on nationality law issues was being establised by the IAAF. Council also received new and updated information on a number of nationality-related issues: relevant nationality rules in Member Federations, the case of three Kenyan athletes who had moved to Bahrain, two new cases involving Bahrain concerning athletes from Morocco and Jamaica and information on the Hague International Convention on proof of citizenship. Council agreed that the Juridical Commission should follow the current situation and discuss this item again at its next meeting.
