Fredericks steps aside from IAAF work, to skip council meet
KAMPALA, UGANDA >> Frank Fredericks has stepped aside from all his duties at the IAAF and “indicated” he won’t attend its council meeting in London next month while he’s the subject of an ethics investigation, world athletics head Sebastian Coe said on Saturday.
Coe noted Fredericks had not resigned as a member of the IAAF’s ruling council “but stepped aside to let all bodies investigate the matter.”
Fredericks, who is also a voting International Olympic Committee member, is being investigated by the IOC ethics panel over a payment of nearly $300,000 he received from a now-banned athletics official around the time Rio de Janeiro was awarded the right to host the 2016 Olympics.
Speaking in Kampala, Uganda, where the crosscountry world championships will take place on Sunday, Coe said Fredericks had not traveled to Uganda, and would stay away from other IAAF events while he’s investigated.
“I have spoken to him (Fredericks) regularly since this issue came out and he decided to step away from all this as he needs time to sort all this,” Coe said. “He also indicated that he will not attend the Council meeting in London.”
Fredericks, a former sprinter from Namibia, denied any wrongdoing after the 2009 payment was revealed by French newspaper Le Monde this month. Le Monde alleged the payment came from a Brazilian businessman and was channeled through a sports marketing company created by Papa Massata Diack, the son of former IAAF president Lamine Diack.
Papa Massata Diack, a former IAAF marketing consultant, has been banned for life by the IAAF and is being sought for questioning by French authorities. His father is facing corruption charges in France.
Fredericks said he had a contract with the sports marketing company and the timing of the payment was coincidental.
The 49-year-old Fredericks won four Olympic silver medals in the 1990s.
Boxing: Linares beats Crolla again
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND >> Jorge Linares beat Anthony Crolla by unanimous decision for the second time in six months to keep the WBA lightweight title on Saturday.
Linares gave Crolla a rematch in the same Manchester Arena before Crolla’s supporters, and the Venezuelan proved superior again to all three judges, who each scored it 118-109.
Linares even knocked down Crolla in the seventh round.
Having relieved Crolla of the title in September, Linares improved his record to 42-3 (27 KOs). He hasn’t lost in five years.
Crolla dropped to 31-6-3.
Ross, Cochran-Siegle win super G
CARRABASSETT VALLEY, MAINE >> Laurenne Ross and Ryan Cochran-Siegle won super G titles Saturday in the U.S. Alpine Championships at Sugarloaf Mountain.
Ross is a 2014 Olympian who also won the 2013 U.S. Championship in the super G. She was timed in 1:21.44. Cochran-Siegle finished in 1:19.66 for his first national title.
He was second in the super G and giant slalom at last year’s U.S. Championships.
Cochran-Siegle, the son of 1972 Olympic slalom gold medalist Barbara Ann Cochran, beat U.S. ski team teammate Jared Goldberg by 0.26 seconds. U.S. ski team veteran Travis Ganong took third.