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World Athletics released an official statement after announcing that they had discovered that $1.7 million had been stolen from the organization over several years in a systematic theft. The governing body of track and field shared that the million-dollar theft was discovered by the finance department after their initial annual auditing process under a new team.
It was revealed that the theft was carried out by two employees and a consultant. While one of the employees had left World Athletics before the theft was discovered, the other employee and the consultant were immediately terminated after a thorough internal investigation. World Athletics revealed that they had prepared detailed cases and handed them over to the authorities and even conducted another investigation to look for any other loopholes in the system.
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The president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, released a statement and shared that the organization had taken positive steps towards the prevention of similar incidents in the future.
“Unfortunately, corporate theft happens in organisations around the world and across all industry sectors at different levels. The most important thing is to identify it, review how it was able to happen, and then introduce new processes and enhanced controls to ensure it doesn’t happen again. This is what we have done," he said.
Furthermore, Coe expressed that World Athletics is determined to recover the amount by legal means, and the governing body acknowledges the entire incident rather than keeping it under wraps, as it helps everyone to be accountable as well as prevent scams in the future.
“We are also determined to recover whatever monies we are able, using the full force of the law to do this. Too many organisations brush incidents like this under the carpet, terminating employment with limited information, which allows perpetrators to continue their scams and thefts within new organisations. We are not that type of organisation," he added.
Coe shared that the organization will be transparent with the investigation and expressed that they would continue to defend what is right.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe weighs in on new leagues launching in the track circuit
Sebastian Coe expressed his thoughts about new leagues launching in the track circuit in an interview with Athletics Weekly. The legendary athlete shared that it was good for the sport as well as the athletes, as it helped elevate track to a wider audience.
Moreover, speaking about Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track struggling with payments after their inaugural edition of the meet, he said:
"There is no point in pretending this is a satisfactory situation. It's not good. The one thing that World Athletics has always stood strongly behind is the athletes."
Coe shared that new leagues should be focused more on practicability and delivery, as they contribute to the rise of track and field.
