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IAAF sends media to tradesman's entrance

By Mitch Phillips MONACO (Reuters) - IAAF officials will face the media at the Fairmont Hotel on Thursday but they are ensuring the world's press don't get ideas above their station by allowing them in via an exhaust-fume-filled, dark concrete road tunnel. The Tunnel Louis II might make good TV viewing when F1 cars scream through it in the Monaco Grand Prix but it is less appealing to pedestrians. IAAF press officials included a set of handy photographs for visiting media, with red arrows super-imposed to indicate which stairwell reporters should use at the plush seaside venue. "No media access will be permitted via the Fairmont Hotel main entrance," the invitation said, with even media guests checked in to the hotel forced to go out of the front door and round to the tradesman's entrance for the 1730 GMT news conference. The IAAF Council, chaired by president Sebastian Coe, has been meeting to discuss the latest developments in the doping and corruption crisis that has gripped the sport over recent months. (Editing by Tony Jimenez)