IOC denies trying to block investigation into Fredericks’ case
Aclaim by Namibia’s sprint legend Frank Fredericks that Inte rnat iona l Olympic Committee ( IOC) President Thomas Bach tried to hamper an investigation into corruption by telling him not to travel to France has been dismissed by the organisation.
The Namibian four- time Olympic silver medallist alleged in a statement obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung – and confirmed by Fredericks – that the IOC told him he avoids visiting France after he was linked with alleged bribery in March 2017.
Fredericks was accused of accepting a bribe of $299 300 (£230 000/€253 000) in 2009 from Papa Massata Diack, the son of former International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) President Lamine Diack when Rio de Janeiro won the vote to host the 2016 Olympics and Paralympic Games.
The legendary sprinter has alleged that when details of the payment first emerged publicly, Bach and IOC director general Christophe De Kepper called him to tell him that Pâquerette GirardZappelli would contact him.
Fredericks later called GirardZappelli, the IOC’s chief ethics and compliance officer, on 4 March after she had sent him a text and, he claims, she told him, “I should be careful not to travel to France”.
The Namibian has alleged that Girard-Zappelli made it clear she was delivering the warning on behalf of Bach.
“She [Girard Zappelli] then told me that the President called her to inform her that I am planning to fly to Europe and I should be careful not to go to France,” Fredericks wrote in a report.
Fredericks was planning to travel from Windhoek to Berlin at the time on a business trip. As a result of the allegations, Fredericks suspended himself as an IOC member. He was also forced to step down as chair of the IOC’s Evaluation Commission that was studying bids for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, a contest between Paris and Los Angeles.
The IOC have claimed it was in this function that Fredericks was told not to travel to France.
“There was no order from the IOC President, but [Girard Zappelli] advised Mr Fredericks… not to continue in his preparations for the IOC Evaluation Commission’s visit to Paris, whilst these allegations were pending,” the IOC said in a statement.
Fredericks (53) was charged by the French authorities in November 2017 for allegedly receiving the bribe from Papa
Massata Diack. Fredericks has denied that the money was a reward for voting for Rio de Janeiro to host the Olympic Games.
He has claimed it was payment for several projects that the IAAF had agreed to help fund a few years previously.
But the figure he received was more than twice the $120 000 (£92 000/€101 000) Fredericks had invoiced the IAAF for and the payment was transferred to him on 2 October in 2009, the day Rio were awarded the Games at the IOC Session ahead of Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo.
Fredericks, at the time a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, had been one of the scrutineers at the vote.
He later told French prosecutors when he travelled to Paris to meet them that he thought the timing of the payment was a coincidence and that the overpayment was a “gift” as 2 October was his birthday.
Fredericks has also been provisionally suspended from the IAAF – now called World Athletics – after the organisation’s Athletic Integrity Unit opened an investigation into the matter. He had been a member of its ruling Council and served on a Taskforce to investigate allegations of statesponsored doping in Russia.
A decision is not expected to be announced until criminal proceedings have been completed in France. The IOC denied to Süddeutsche Zeitung that they had tried to block any attempts by the French authorities to speak to Fredericks.
“Contrary to your insinuation, the IOC has close l y
cooperated with the French judicial authorities,” they said in a statement to the newspaper.
Lamine and Papa Massata Diack were last month found guilty of corruption by the Paris Criminal Court following an investigation into cover-ups of Russian doping cases for cash. Lamine Diack, who is 87, was
sentenced to two years in prison.
Papa Massata Diack, who refused to travel to France for the trial, was sentenced to five years in absentia. Another trial linked to vote-buying for the 2020 Olympic Games awarded to Tokyo is expected to take place in Paris next spring.