IAAF trio handed life bans in doping scandal

The full scale of corruption involving senior IAAF officials has been laid bare after three of athletics’ leading figures were handed lifetime bans for blackmail and covering up positive drugs tests.

The trio were Papa Massata Diack, the son of the then IAAF president Lamine Diack and a marketing consultant for the organisation, former Russian athletics federation (ARAF) president and IAAF treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev, and Alexei Melnikov, a senior ARAF coach.

Gabriel Dolle, who was the IAAF’s anti-doping director, has been given a five-year ban for his part in the doping scandal which has rocked world athletics.