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LONDON — German sportswear company Adidas AG would be to end its sponsorship cope with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) almost 4 years early due to the scandal surrounding the sport, the BBC reported on Sunday.
The BBC said Adidas, whose 11-year deal managed to get the biggest sponsor of athletics’ governing body, decided against continuing using the contract like a direct consequence of the doping and corruption allegations that emerged in December.
The BBC also said Adidas considers the accusations of corrupt practices inside the organization a breach of their agreement using the IAAF.
Neither Adidas or even the IAAF were willing to confirm the report, when asked to by Reuters.
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Adidas would only repeat its standard line about the IAAF scandal: “Adidas includes a clear anti-doping policy in position. Therefore, we’re in close contact with the IAAF to learn more about their reform process.”
Adidas, which has a long-running deal with scandal-plagued FIFA, originates under fire for refraining to distance itself from FIFA President Sepp Blatter after Swiss authorities opened a criminal investigation into him.
Asked concerning the Adidas contract, the IAAF issued a statement saying: “The IAAF is in close connection with all its sponsors and partners as we embark on our reform process.”
The BBC, citing anonymous sources, said the sponsorship deal, signed in November 2008, was worth around US$8 million (5.6 million pounds) per year.
Adidas is one of the IAAF’s “Official Partners” along with Canon, Toyota, Seiko, TDK, TBS and Mondo.
If confirmed, the disclosure represents the latest inside a series of setbacks for that Monaco-based IAAF.
Late this past year a completely independent commission for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revealed widespread, state-sponsored doping in Russia. A week ago the commission released another set of its investigations that accused the IAAF of having “embedded corruption” at the very top from the organization under former president Lamine Diack.
Diack and the son, Papa Massata, are both under investigation by French police over corruption allegations. Both guys have denied wrongdoing.
? Thomson Reuters 2016
