The messy and disturbing relationship between some of the IAAFÂ’s former top officials and Russian athletics leaders continues to reveal itself as track and field attempts to remedy story after story of widespread doping cover-ups and bribery. Thursday was a step in the right direction, but one that should have happened months ago.

The governing body has rid itself today of three of track and fieldÂ’s most rotten scoundrels, as the ethics commission handed out lifetime bans for the key players in the attempted doping cover-up of Russian marathoner Liliya Shobukhova.

Papa Diack, son of disgraced former IAAF president Lamine Diack and an IAAF marketing consultant, was among the three permanently kicked to the curb, as was former Russian Athletics Federation president/IAAF treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev, and Russian endurance head coach Alexei Melnikov. The trio demanded payment from Shobukhova lest she be busted for doping.

In addition, Diack and Balakhnichev were each fined $25,000, with Melnikov getting hit with a lesser $15,000.

A fourth, former IAAF anti-doping director Gabriel Dolle, was given just a five-year ban, because he was guilty of “omission, not commission,” per the IAAF panel. He knew about it, but kept quiet. Dolle resigned from his post in December 2014 after being confronted by the ethics commission. In November, French police found $93,000 in cash at Dolle's home.

“These four individuals who have been found guilty and sanctioned are no longer associated with the IAAF in any capacity,” the IAAF said in a statement.

An investigation into these men came about after a complaint from an IAAF staffer reached the ethics board in April of 2014, with the details of the story reaching the public when German broadcaster ARD released a documentary in December of 2014 revealing massive cover-ups and complicity by the Russian Athletics Federation.

The documentary alleged that Shobukhova was extorted out of 450,000 euros to keep from a doping ban before the 2012 London Olympics. When the former Chicago and London Marathon champion was hit with two year drug penalty in April of 2014, ShobukhovaÂ’s husband received a hefty refund of 300,000 euros from Balakhnichev.

Just a few days after the ARD program ran, Balakhnichev stepped down from his role as IAAF treasurer. Despite this, it took more than a year for him to be bounced from the sport.

All four men can still appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

After the announcement of today's ban, Balakhnichev told the Associated Press that the punishment was "somewhat politicized, as seen by its being announced on the biggest religious holiday of the Russian Federation, which is Christmas."

January 7th is the holiday for Orthodox Christians, the largest religion in Russia. Being exposed as a total liar and cheat is apparently a big bummer to one's Christmas spirit. Basically, Balakhnichev thinks the timing of the ethics commission to be very Scrooge-like. Bah humbug!

In response to the bans, IAAF president Sebastian Coe said, “The life bans announced today could not send a stronger message that those who attempt to corrupt or subvert the sport of athletics will be brought to justice.”

Coe has spent much of first five months in office trying to reverse the wicked corruption spearheaded by his predecessor, Lamine Diack, who was arrested back in November by French authorities for taking bribes from Russia. Diack confessed to asking Russia for political donations in December.   

The entire Russian Athletics Federation is currently banned from track and field altogether as a result of their state-sponsored doping program, which, among many other things, revealed that thousands of doping samples had been destroyed by the former Moscow testing director.

Right now it looks like Russia wonÂ’t be competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics at all.