Lamine Diack, who presided over World Athletics from 1999 to 2015, was later convicted for cover-up and corruption
By Uzor Odigbo
Former International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) President, Lamine Diack, who presided over World Athletics from 1999 to 2015 but was later convicted for corruption, has died at the age of 88, his family said.
According to AFP, the Senegalese was head of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), now renamed World Athletics.
Lamine Diack, who was also a powerful figure at the International Olympics Committee, was found guilty of corruption by a French court in 2020 for covering up Russian doping cases in exchange for bribes.
Lamine Diack was sentenced to four years in prison, of which two were suspended, and fined 500,000 euros ($560,000).
He was once so friendly and assisted the Nigerian athletics federation in so many legitimate ways while he was IAAF President.
Profile of Lamine Diack (Culled from his Wikipedia page).
Lamine Diack was a Senegalese businessman, sports administrator, and athlete. He was president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from 1999 to 2015.
He was the subject of numerous investigations into corruption during his tenure as president. He was also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1999 to 2013, then an honorary member from 2014 to 2015, and the chairman of the National Water Company “Société Nationale des Eaux” of Senegal (SONES) from 1995 to 2001.
He had been under house arrest since November 2015, and his trial in France started in June 2020.
On 16 September 2020 Diack, his son Papa Massata Diack, the head of the IAAF anti-doping department Gabriel Dolle and other persons were given prison sentences for their part in a coverup of doping in Russia.
Diack was a champion long jumper in the late 1950s, winning the event at the 1958 French Athletics Championships and holding the French/West African record from 1957 to 1960.