Coe promises to steady rocking IAAF ship

MONACO — Sebastian Coe has vowed to guide the IAAF “back to trust” after a series of corruption and doping scandals that has seen global athletics crash into its darkest ever days. Speaking after an IAAF Council meeting Thursday, Coe stepped down from his lucrative ambassadorial role for Nike over what some people dubbed as a conflict of interest, notably over the award of the 2021 world championships to Eugene, located in the same Oregan state as the giant US sportswear company. “The journey back to trust is not a scientific one, there’s is no certainty in this,” said Coe. “But it does have to start with making sure that we have an organization that is fit for purpose and can deliver the services that it needs to, and can maintain and rebuild the reputation that clearly has been hit very hard in the last few weeks.” Coe’s alleged conflict of interest to one side, his predecessor Lamine Diack is under French police investigation for allegedly having accepted more than one million euros in bribes to allow athletes compete despite them having tested positive for banned substances. In the wake of those shocking revelations, the IAAF then acted on a bombshell report by an independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) by banning Russia from all international competition because of what it called systematic state-sponsored doping of its athletes. Coe, a two-time Olympic 1500m gold medalist for Britain, was in no doubt that the transformation of the IAAF and athletics, the Olympic’s main sport, would take some time. “How long that will take I don’t know, but it will in total outsee my mandate,” the 59-year-old said. Coe also told his colleagues he had cancelled the annual contract which provided a permanent serviced apartment in the five-star Fairmont Hotel for the president’s use. The IAAF said he had also closed the president’s office “Villa Miraflores” and handed it back to the Principality of Monaco. All IAAF staff personnel based there have transferred to the organization’s HQ on Monaco’s Quai Antoine. When Coe took power from the disgraced Diack in August, he beat out Sergey Bubka on a zero-tolerance stance on doping that was the backbone of rebuilding trust. Stephanie Hightower, president of the US track and field federation, said Coe had their full support, with the accent on winning back not only fans but athletes themselves. “What a time to join the IAAF Council!” Hightower said after just her second outing in her role. “We have been encouraged that Seb has proposed around reviewing operations, structure, processes and governance,” she sadded. With Coe having ceded his Nike role, at the cost of £100,000 (142,000 euros) per year, there were calls for his role as IAAF president to be properly salaried. “The athletes want someone at the top to be paid to deliver professional services for the sport,” said former Namibian sprinter Frank Fredericks, now head of the IAAF athletes commission. “Especially considering what Seb has given up.” Coe concluded: “The current noise level around this ambassadorial role is not good for the IAAF and it is not good for Nike, and frankly it is a distraction to the 18-hour days I and our teams are working to steady the ship.” — AFP