Coe: "Ultimate Privilege" to Land IAAF Presidency

(ATR) Sebastian Coe is "very upbeat" about securing the top job in world athletics and doesn’t regret saying allegations of IAAF inaction against doping are a "declaration of war" on his sport.

The head of the British Olympic Association heads to Beijing Thursday for a busy few days of lobbying before next Tuesday’s IAAF presidential election. Ukrainian pole vault legend Sergey Bubka is the other candidate.

"The mood in the camp is very strong," Coe told reporters in a conference call, adding that he and his team had covered "well over 700,000km" over the last year of campaigning.

"We are very upbeat but take absolutely nothing for granted. This is an election and we have to make sure the race is run right up to the last moment. As my father would always say ‘you need to run through the line’."

The build-up to the election has been dominated by accusations that the IAAF has failed to get to grips with the fight against doping. Last week, allegations made by German broadcaster ARD and Britain's Sunday Times newspaper of hundreds of allegedly suspicious blood tests sparked allegations of widespread doping in athletics . Analysis of the results of 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes taken from 2001 to 2012 concluded that 800 were suspicious.

Asked if the double Olympic champion regretted branding the allegations a "declaration of war" on athletics, he said: "No I don’t. I was angered. I wasn’t the only one in my sport to be angered."

He said the announcement this week that the IAAF had suspended 28 athletes after re-analysis of urine samples for suspected doping violations at the 2005 and 2007 world championships in Helsinki and Osaka showed the world athletics federation’s commitment "to weed the cheats out from 10 years ago".

"We didn’t do that without the recognition that there is reputational damage [to athletics] every time you pull someone out of the sport," Coe said.

"Ultimate Privilege" to Helm Athletics

For the man who has won two 1,500m Olympic golds and spearheaded the organization of the London 2012 Olympics, is cleaning up athletics his biggest challenge if he wins the IAAF presidency?

"I am not seeking this job to clean up my sport," Coe said in response to a questions posed by Around the Rings.

"My sport is strong It has deep-held values, it has a history that runs back to ancient times. We are the No.1 Olympic sport in the world. More people watch it than any other Olympic sport. This is not a crusade to clean up the sport."

Coe, an advocate of life bans for doping cheats, said he would bring to the IAAF presidency his wealth of experience of an athlete, Olympic organizer, politician and someone who understands the commercial side of the sport.

"This would be theultimate privilege to help share the future direction of my sport alongside 214 federations, sharing its future, engaging young people, changing the way we engage with member federations," he said.

With the Beijing 2015 world championships opening next week against the backdrop of doping allegations, Coe dismissed the suggestion that the general public perceived that athletics had a drugs problem in the same way as cycling following the Lance Armstrong’s revelations.

"Yes, these last few weeks have been difficult times. But the federations also know I am in their corner and I am prepared to defend our sport, which is very, very important," Coe said.

"The responsibility of any incoming president is to make sure we are always clear about what our sport stands for, the values of our sport and the way we present it. That will never change long after I have left the scene," he added.

A number of European countries have publicly backed Coe’s IAAF campaign and he indicated that he had "very strong support in the all the continents".

The IAAF vice-president said there issues member federations were wanted addressing were straightforward and, for the smaller ones at least, based around being better funded.

"The ability to do what they want to do, with the right level of resources," he said.

"I have been uplifted by the journey I have taken. I have sat and listened to federation presidents, who are in some cases subbing their own federations out of hard-earned income, they are making sacrifices often to their families to do that.

"I have always instinctively felt that the more global we become and the more we want to grow our sport in areas where there may not be a deep history or tradition we need to provide the tools to allow federations to do that job," he added.

Finding new sponsors and sources of income, growing relationships with governments are among the targets fgor Coe if he secures the IAAF hot seat.

"My focus in large part will be in helping federations to deliver sport I know they want to deliver, that is framed on local need but done in a way that helps us grow globally," he said.

Looking ahead to the IAAF world championships, Coe agreed that it was important to have a strong showcase for the sport to counter the negativity swirling around athletics.

"It is the second biggest opportunity in the four-year cycle to showcase our sport. Millions of people will watch it one way or another on any number of platforms," he said."It’s absolutely vital we have successful world championships in front of noisy passionate crowds, and I am sure we will."

Reported by Mark Bisson

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