One knew this was going to come up again. There are always two sides to each story. In the battle for a World Champs, there are those who win and those who loose.
Stay tuned on this story.
My belief is that the U.S. should have hosted a World Outdoor champs before 2015.
Bjorn Eriksson labels awarding of 2021 World Athletics Championships to Oregon as ‘highly unethical’ as outrage grows
- Awarding of 2021 World Athletics labelled ‘highly unethical’
- Former head of Swedish athletics Bjorn Eriksson angered by allegations
- Vows to ‘go back to process’ if bribery allegations proven
The Swedish athletics officials so incensed by the decision to award the 2021 World Athletics Championships to Eugene in Oregon have vowed to ‘go back to the process’ if allegations of bribery are proven against former president Lamine Diack and other officials at the governing body.
Bjorn Eriksson was the head of the Swedish athletics federation when the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) awarded their showcase event to the American city earlier this year without allowing Gothenburg to even participate in a bidding process.
At the time Eriksson, Sweden’s former chief police commissioner who went on to serve as the president of Interpol, called it ‘a violation of fair play’.
Bjorn Eriksson has described awarding of 2021 World Championships to Oregon as ‘highly unethical’
Now Eriksson has spoken to Sportsmail in light of the astonishing developments that have seen Diack, his chief legal advisor and the IAAF’s former head of anti-doping arrested and put under formal investigation by the French authorities amid allegations that they extorted money from Russian athletes in exchange for covering up positive drugs tests.
All deny the charges.
Last year Diack’s son, Papa Massata, resigned as an IAAF marketing executive after it was alleged that he requested £3million from Qatar during the race to host the 2017 World Championships, an event eventually awarded to London.
Eriksson has spoken in light of developments that have seen former IAAF head Lamine Diack arrested
Eriksson has noted that the chief financial French prosecutor confirmed on Friday that Diack Jnr would have been arrested as well last week had he been in France.
‘I’m not surprised by what I’ve read,’ said Eriksson. ‘But I’m angry. And it adds to my lack of confidence in the former leadership.
‘If it turns out there is something in this, I’ll go back to the process (of how Eugene won the championships). They gave us no chance. In the best of worlds it was highly unethical. At worst we have to wonder if there was some kind of bribes involved.’
Eriksson takes encouragement from the fact the WADA commission passed the evidence it uncovered as part of an investigation into allegations of systematic doping in Russia to Interpol.
‘I was the president of Interpol and for me it feels like a form of justice that my old organisation is now investigating,’ said Eriksson.
To read the entire story, please go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-3309624/Bjorn-Eriksson-labels-awarding-2021-World-Athletics-Championships-Oregon-highly-unethical-outrage-grows.html
