(ATR) IOC members Frank Fredericks of Namibia and Camiel Eurlings of The Netherlands both battle ongoing legal questions.
Fredericks is now under pressure to step aside from his seat on the IAAF Council while an IOC Ethics Commission studies the circumstances of a $299,000 payment he received in 2009 just prior to the IOC vote on the 2016 Olympics. European Athletics president Svein-Arne Hansen said he believes any member of the council facing an investigation over questions of integrity should step down until the matter is resolved.
But IAAF President Sebastian Coe said Tuesday that Fredericks will keep his seat on the council while the IOC reviews the case.
Fredericks, a four-time silver medal sprinter, has denied any wrongdoing. He says the payment from a firm run by the son of disgraced IAAF President Lamine Diack was used to support youth sports programs in Namibia.
Fredericks resigned as chair of two IOC commissions following the revelation of the payment by Paris newspaper Le Monde earlier this month, but not his IOC membership. Fredericks also resigned from the IAAF commission overseeing the reforms in Russian athletics, but not his council seat.
Fredericks, 49, served as a member of the IOC Athletes Commission from 2004 to 2012 and was elected to a new seat on the IOC in 2012.
In The Netherlands, IOC member Camiel Eurlings apparently will keep his seat, regardless of the resolution of charges he assaulted his then-girlfriend in 2015. Facing a criminal trial, Eurlings has agreed to pursue mediation to resolve the case instead.
"The IOC has been informed of the meeting between Mr. Eurlings and the public Prosecutor, as well as the statement made by the Prosecutor that the situation will not be brought to Court. This is a private matter, and the IOC has no further comment to make," says an IOC statement.
Eurlings, 43, was elected to his IOC seat in 2013. He is chair of the IOC Communications Commission.
Written by Ed Hula.
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