London's successful bid to host 2017 World 'Championships done 'by the book'
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 15/01/16 6:07pm
The chairman of UK Athletics insists London has nothing to hide over its successful bid for the 2017 World Championships and has promised to make all emails, documents and phone records available to investigators.
French police and the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) are investigating the bidding processes involved in seven world championships since 2009, including the 2017 event, which is to be hosted by London after it beat Qatar's capital Doha in the vote.
UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner has welcomed news of the investigations and said all documents, as well as computer and phone records connected to London's bid, would be handed to investigators.
"All I know is that London's bid was completely by the book and through the front door in a classically British way," he said.
"We have nothing to hide and we would be delighted to spend any amount of time going through our processes with the investigators if that helps root out any miscreants.
"It's right that these things are fair battles and the right city wins for the good of the sport and nothing more.
"There has been a very unhealthy smell at FIFA with some of football's World Cup bids and now it appears there may be some of that stench with some IAAF World Championships - and that is very unpleasant."
The investigation is expected to focus on any involvement of former IAAF president Lamine Diack, who was succeeded by Lord Coe in August, and his son Papa Massata Diack, who was employed by the IAAF as a marketing consultant.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)'s independent commission has stated that Diack junior "held a contract to exploit marketing opportunities in emerging markets" including Brazil, Russia, India, China, UAE, Qatar, South Korea, Mexico, Africa and the Caribbean.
Investigators are likely to probe any links between the Diacks and bidding cities from those countries - Daegu in South Korea hosted 2011, Moscow 2013, Beijing 2015 and Doha are to be 2019 hosts after losing out to London for 2017.
The commission's report stated Diack junior "stood down as an IAAF marketing consultant in December 2014 due to allegations that he requested a payment of five million US dollars during Doha's failed bid for the 2017 World Athletic Championships."
The International Olympic Committee is also to explore the possibility that bribery was involved in the bidding for the 2020 games, which were awarded to Tokyo.
Meanwhile, the IOC has asked the World Anti Doping agency for transcripts from Thursday's briefing that questioned whether sponsorship money was paid to the IAAF to help Tokyo secure the games ahead of other contenders, including Istanbul.
However the head of the Turkish Olympic Committee Ugur Erdener told Sky Sports News HQ that Lamine Diack did not on his own have the authority to grant the Olympic Games to any city.
"Lamine Diack does not have the authority to grant the Olympic Games to any city, and in the end, he only used his vote," said Erdener, who also serves on the IOC executive board.
"Therefore, it would not be a correct approach to explain the fact that Istanbul did not win the right to organize the 2020 Olympic Games through Lamine Diack's vote alone."
