French investigate 2021 world athletics championships award

French prosecutors have opened an investigation into the awarding of the 2021 world athletics championships to the American city of Eugene, a judicial source said Wednesday, confirming a report by the BBC.

Eugene was awarded the championships despite the traditional formal bidding process for such a high-profile event not taking place.

The new inquiry is not related to the ongoing corruption probe which led to the arrest and charging of Lamine Diack, the former president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the source said.

His successor Sebastian Coe came under fire for his close links to Nike, the multinational sportswear firm which is headquartered in the Oregon city of Eugene.

Coe has since stepped down from his paid role as an ambassador for Nike.

The Olympic legend, however, denied all claims of a conflict of interest in a position he had held for 38 years and paid a reported 142,000 euros (£103,112; $156,542) a year.

The preliminary investigation launched in France is understood to be looking at the various suspicions raised by the British media and to make sure that the French courts have jurisdiction.

The BBC last month published an email from a senior Nike executive that suggested Coe had lobbied Diack for the 2021 World Championships to be awarded to Eugene.

When asked if it had been in Nike's interest for the event to be awarded to Eugene -- which it was, without a formal bid process -- Coe told a British parliament committee: "I don't conclude that."

On the nature of his communications with Nike, Coe said: "I was asked the question. I gave a view that Eugene needed to get back into the competition and get into the next bid cycle."

Asked if his relationship with Nike represented a conflict of interest, he said: "It would have been if it hadn't been properly identified."

Coe has been resolute that he did not lobby Diack, under whom he was a vice-president at the IAAF for seven years, on Eugene's behalf.

Bjorn Eriksson, who led a rival bid by Gothenburg for the 2021 championships, said Coe had telephoned him to say it had been wrong to give the event to Eugene without a formal bidding process, The Times had reported.
Source :AFP