Just months before two athletics legends go head to head for presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations, the world body has been plunged into controversy over alleged vote-rigging at its 2011 congress in Korea.
It was claimed in the respected Spanish newspaper, El Pais, that Ahmad Al Kamali of Dubai had offered Rolex watches in order to maintain his vice-presidency of the athletics body.
Though understood not previously to have been a council member, and barely known by most congress delegates, Al Kamali gained a council seat four years ago, with 137 votes - more than any other candidate. This was more than Cuban Olympic 400 and 800 metres gold medallist Alberto Juantorena and Namibian sprinter Frankie Fredericks, the former world 200m champion and four-time Olympic silver medallist.
The next day, Al Kamali was among four IAAF vice-presidents elected, gaining more votes than either Sebastian Coe or Sergey Bubka, who were elected along with the USA's Bob Hersh.
Lord Coe, two-time Olympic 1500m champion and world record-holder at 800m and 1500m, and Ukraine's multiple world pole vault record-holder Bubka, are bidding to succeed Lamine Diack as IAAF president, one of the most powerful positions in sport.
The meteoric rise of Al Kamali, an ex-military judge, has baffled the sport. El Pais claims the IAAF ethics commission has received a formal complaint, but a commission spokesman invoked their "strict confidentiality obligations" in response to our enquiries. They are barred from disclosing the existence of any matter pending. "We do not ever confirm or deny whether any complaint has been made," I was told.
The ethics commission is completely independent of the IAAF, who are in the dark regarding "any official complaint about the matters mentioned in El Pais".
However, IAAF rules relating to elections state that candidates should "in no case and under no pretext" give presents, offer donations or gifts, or grant "advantages or benefits of whatever nature to or at the request of any party who will vote in, or who may otherwise influence, an election".
With vice-presidential elections due in August at the IAAF Congress in Beijing, Al Kamali was allegedly campaigning during the African Athletics Congress in Addis Ababa, allegedly offering authentic Rolex watches to 40 African delegates who have the right to vote, in a bid to influence re-election as vice-president.
The Herald has established that the president of one African federation confirmed to El Pais that he "took part in many conversations and debates when in Addis. Some of the delegates were sufficiently responsible to return the watch they had received, or to leave them without opening in the room where they had been left as gifts".
This federation president, under guarantee of anonymity, said Al Kamali had also offered money and equipment to help organise a competition in his country. He rejected the offer "because Al Kamali is a candidate for elections to IAAF office in Beijing".
Nominations for the IAAF elections must be made by May 18, so there may be little to stop Al Kamali from challenging Coe and Bubka. Unless the ethics commission finds him guilty.
Al Kamali is director of the Dubai Marathon, among the world's most extravagantly funded. It offers $200,000 to male and female winners and a $1m world-record bonus. The race's patron is the second son of Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum of the Godolphin racing dynasty.
The IAAF is currently embroiled in corruption controversy surrounding Russian doping - the ethics commission is investigating that - and allegations that Papa Massata Diack, son of the IAAF president, may have abused his position as a marketing consultant.
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