IAAF cancels awards gala amid athletics corruption allegations

The International Association of Athletics Federations has cancelled its Athletics' annual awards ceremony scheduled for Saturday November 28 in Monaco following corruption allegations on the former president Lamine Diack.

According to the IAAF president, Sebastian Coe, the male and female athletes of the year will now be announced online.

"This is not the time for the athletics family to be gathering in celebration of our sport,'' he said in a media release on Friday. ''We will rightly still honour the outstanding achievements of the sport's athletes. Therefore the athlete of the year and other annual honours will still be awarded and will be promoted and announced on the internet and social media. The IAAF will seek a suitable occasion in the future for the presentation of these awards to be made to the winners."