Former world champion sprinter Frankie Fredericks has been provisionally suspended from his role in athletics pending an ethics investigation, the IAAF said Monday.
Fredericks was suspended from his role as member of the IAAF’s ruling council amid a probe by the IAAF’s integrity unit led by former English Court of Appeal judge Sir Anthony Hooper, the IAAF said.
Fredericks stood down himself from his role as head of the IOC’s evaluation commission for the 2024 Olympics, but the IAAF said it felt it had no choice but to officially suspend him too.
“The order for provisional suspension does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation which the athletics integrity unit is carrying out,” the IAAF said.
In March the French daily Le Monde said the former sprinter received $299,300 dollars (262,000 euros) from Papa Massata Diack, son of ex-IAAF president Lamine Diack, on October 2, 2009, the day Rio de Janeiro was awarded the right to host th 2016 Olympics.
The widely popular Fredericks insists that the payments were for promoting athletics events and the IAAF said Monday the suspension was not a presumption of guilt.
Fredericks says the payment had to do with a contract that had been signed in March 2007 for promotion services between 2007 and 2011.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.