THE former head of Russian athletics Valentin Balakhnichev, the country’s former head coach Aleksey Melnikov, and Papa Massata Diack, the son of the former IAAF President Lamine Diack, have all been banned from the sport for life over corruption charges.

The IAAF Ethics Commission made the announcement on Thursday, also banning the organisation’s former doping chief Gabrielle Dolle for five years, after all four men were found to have committed multiple breaches of anti-doping rules and been involved in the attempted cover up of positive drugs tests.

The bans follow from a World Anti-Doing Agency (Wada) report that found indications of a state-sponsored culture of doping in Russia. The report raised doubts that world athletics power Russia would be able to participate in this year’s Rio olympics.

Most of the charges involved Russian former London marathon winner Liliya Shobukhova, who paid $600 000 to have positive dope tests covered up. She provided evidence to Wada last year that led to Russia being suspended from athletics.

In a lengthy statement issued on Thursday, the IAAF Ethics Commission gave detail about the lengths all three senior men went to, both in the initial corruption attempts and then in attempting to cover it up.