From Inside the Games
International Olympic Committee (IOC) Ethics Commission investigators are seeking to clarify reported evidence linking officials Lamine Diack and Frankie Fredericks to payments made in Brazil three days before Rio de Janeiro was awarded the 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
According to Le Monde, French police are probing a company linked to an influential Brazilian businessman paid $1.5 million (£1.23 million/€1.42 million) to a firm set-up by Papa Massata, the son of Senegal’s former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Diack, shortly before the host city was decided at the 2009 IOC Session in Copenhagen on October 2.
Namibia’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Fredericks, chair of the Evaluation Commission for the 2024 Summer Games, has also been implicated after receiving funds from Papa Diack during the same period.
Fredericks, a four-time Olympic medal winning sprinter who was also chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission between 2008 and 2012, denies all wrongdoing, but has referred himself to the IOC Ethics Commission.
He was a scrutineer during a 2016 election which took place on his 42nd birthday.
Lamine Diack was at the time a voting member of the IOC who was also thought to be key powerbroker who influenced the votes of others.
Rio de Janeiro was subsequently awarded the Games over Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and football superstar Pele were among those present to support the bid in the Danish capital.
