Lamine Diack will have provided no more and no less than the minimum service. Judged in Paris for corruption, the former world boss of athletics (1999-2015) assumed, Thursday, June 11, the decision to stagger sanctions against Russians doped to "save the financial health" of the International Federation ( IAAF), but he kept away from the more sulphurous aspects of the case.

Since Monday, the 87-year-old Senegalese has been on trial with five other people, only two of whom are present, for having delayed disciplinary proceedings against Russian athletes suspected of blood doping in late 2011. All against the backdrop of negotiations with a sponsor and a Russian broadcaster, the state bank VTB and the channel RTR, before the World Championships in Moscow-2013.

At the end of 2011, thanks to a new detection weapon, the biological passport, the IAAF anti-doping department had a list of 23 Russian athletes suspected of blood doping.

"Ready to make this compromise"

At the helm, Lamine Diack, dressed in a long white boubou, justifies herself. "Who made the decision to spread" the disciplinary sanctions? "It's me, everyone said 'daredevil president'," he explains, joining the version of one of his co-accused, the former chief of anti-doping at the IAAF, Gabriel Dollé , who admitted on Monday that he had followed the guidelines.

"It was mainly for the financial health of the IAAF," added Diack, "ready to make this compromise" because the revelation of such a large number of cases would have caused a scandal and weighed on negotiations with sponsors.

If it is clear on this point, Lamine Diack, whose speech is sometimes disjointed, is less so on more sulfurous aspects of the file. Thus, during the investigation, which lasted nearly five years, he also conceded that he had obtained 1.5 million dollars in funding in Russia, sought from the former boss of the Russian athletics federation (Araf). , Valentin Balakhnitchev, to campaign in his country against the outgoing Abdoulaye Wade in the presidential election of 2012.

The pact was said to have been sealed at the end of 2011 during a trip to Moscow, where Lamine Diack had been decorated by the Russian president at the time, Dmitri Medvedev. And finally, Abdoulaye Wade was beaten by the current president of Senegal, Macky Sall.

When the president of the 32nd chamber, Rose-Marie Hunault, questions her about this aspect, Lamine Diack is blurred. "It was they", the Russians, "who asked me if I wanted to be a candidate," he eludes, conceding to having mentioned the sum of "1.5 million dollars" before the Minister of Sports. of the time, Vitali Moutko.

"Fallen from the clouds"

Similarly, Lamine Diack claims not to have been aware of the payment by Russian athletes of bribes, for a total estimated at 3.45 million euros, in exchange for "total protection" against possible sanctions.

And he claims to have "fallen from the clouds" when he learned, by the investigators he swears, that his son Papa Massata Diack, then marketing advisor of the IAAF, was involved in doping files, what appears yet clearly in a decisive email for the investigation, which he received in July 2013.

"He behaved like a thug," says Lamine Diack about the absent from this trial. Staying in Dakar, Papa Massata Diack did not appear at the hearing and was the subject of an international arrest warrant, as were the Russians Balakhnitchev and the former coach Alexei Melnikov.

The delay in sanctions allowed several Russian athletes to participate in the London 2012 Olympics despite abnormal biological passports. Some were even medalists there, before being ousted for doping.

Injured athletes

This was not in the scenario, says Lamine Diack, to whom Valentin Balakhnitchev would have assured that none of the Russians concerned would climb on a podium. Thus, Lamine Diack puts forward the case of the marathon runner Liliya Shobukhova, who "ran and abandoned" in London.

"The idea that someone takes part in order not to win is to fake the results, it's not a sport!", Points out the judge.

Shortly after, the French athlete Christelle Daunay, recognized as a victim by the examining magistrates, came to testify of her prejudice, by telling how she had been penalized at the Chicago marathon, in October 2012. A race, won by Shobukhova, who 'she had finished 5th, before being reclassified 4th, but much later.

"In marathons, we negotiate (image rights) thanks to our performances. I could not benefit from my exact value, because I was 5th and not 4th," said the Frenchwoman.

With AFP

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