Former athletics chief on trial in Paris

Lamine Diack, the former head of athletics’ international governing body the IAAF (now World Athletics), has been brought to a landmark trial for corruption on Monday in Paris.

Diack is accused of being instrumental in the Russian Doping Scandal, clearing athletes’ names of failed drug tests to allow them to compete in the 2012 London Olympic Games. He is further accused of money laundering the equivalent of £3.1 million in euros from bribes between 2012 and 2013.

The 86-year-old Senegalese former athlete led the IAAF from 1999 to 2015, when he was replaced by Lord Coe of Great Britain. On his retirement, however, allegations surfaced accusing Diack of misconduct which led to him being placed under house arrest in Paris where he has been ever since.

Formerly viewed as “the spiritual leader of our sport” (Lord Coe), Diack’s disgrace plunged the IAAF into a well-documented and highly damning scandal on the corruption at the heart of sport. Russian athletes overruled the most vigilant of internationally approved drugs tests through state-sponsored bribery and cover-ups.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) published a report in January 2016 which concluded that Diack "responsible for organising and enabling the conspiracy and corruption that took place in the IAAF".

Diack had been Senegal’s champion long-jumper, holding the West African record between 1957 and 1960, and later served as Dakar’s mayor between 1978 and 1979. He now will appear in court for the next two weeks in the most highly anticipated trail World Athletics has seen.

Photo: Thomas Samson/AFP