The disgraced head of world athletics governing body Lamine Diack has died in his hometown of Senegal at the age of 88.
Diack, who was found guilty of corruption last year, was president of World Athletics (formerly the International Association of Athletics Federations, IAAF) from 1999 to 2015.
In September 2020, he was found guilty corruption and money laundering, in connection with the doping scandal in Russia.
A French court sentenced him to four years in prison, two of them serving suspended sentences.
He was never jailed and was allowed back to Senegal, where he remained under house arrest and later released on bail.
His son, Papa Massata Diack, said: “He died at home of a natural death.
His funeral will be held later on Friday.
Diack’s attorneys had previously said he was in poor health and would die if sent to prison.
Despite my beliefs he still has support in Senegal with Cheikh Seck, owner of Senegalese football club Jaraaf, paying 500,000 euros ($565,000 or £425,000 earlier this year) to allow Diack to return home.
“He is a good man, a great leader. We want him back home. It took us a month (to collect 500,000 euros),” said Seck, a businessman and former goalkeeper. Senegal team, said after Diack’s death.
“It was really important, we never imagined that he could end his life somewhere else.”
In the past Seck has described Diack as: “A worthy son of the nation, a well-rounded citizen.”
