Coe: No Thoughts of Quitting IAAF Storm

(ATR) Sebastian Coe denies any IAAF cover-up of doping cheats and says he is confident he will not be implicated in the corruption storm engulfing athletics.

Speaking to CNN Wednesday, the IAAF chief said: "One of the accusations is that I don’t get the seriousness of this issue. I do. I am dealing with it every day and have been dealing with it since the first day I took over the role of president."

"Of course these are dark days."

With fresh revelations alleging IAAF officials attempted to reduce the impact of doping in Russia in 2009, under-pressure Coe said he did not regret standing for IAAF president – "not for one moment" – and had not thought about stepping down.

"No, because the day to day duties of a president is to make sure that the sport is in safe keeping," he told CNN’s Amanda Davies.

Coe succeeded Lamine Diack in August. Diack currently faces a criminal inquiry for corruption. Leaked emails from inside IAAF alleging a cover-up of Russian dopers have added further to the federation woes. The second part of Richard Pound’s WADA Independent Commission report to be published Thursday is expected to bring new allegations of corruption involving top IAAF officials.

Asked if he could guarantee that no allegations that emerge would directly implicate him in a cover-up, Coe said: "There is no cover-up here. I am confident because the systems I am now putting in place are systems that will remedy those weaknesses."

"My focus every day is to help shape the future of our sport. I am focused entirely on putting changes in place that leave the sport in safe and secure hands," Coe added, saying he had worked in "total cooperation" with all enquiries handled by the IAAF ethics board, WADA and French police.

Three senior IAAF officials received lifetime bans last week by the federation’s ethics panel for their part in a cover-up of Russian doping.

In an interview with Sky News, Coe addressed concerns about the escalating Russian doping scandal. But he insisted all abnormal readings were followed up and sanctions imposed made public. "Was there a cover-up? No," he said.

Following its suspension from international competition after the state-sponsored doping expose in Pound’s November report, Russia faces an uphill task to overhaul its anti-doping system and achieve compliance with IAAF and WADA rules before the Rio 2016 Olympics. If it doesn’t, Russia cannot field a track-and-field team at the Games.

Coe indicated that Russia had plenty of work to do.

"The issue is not about a time-frame. Clean Russian athletes will only come back when changes are verifiable, and culturally embedded. Can they be achieved? Yes. Can they be achieved by Rio? I don’t know," he told Sky News.

The double Olympic gold medalist hinted at possible doping bans for other countries implicated in doping scandals.

"Well-resourced federations that don’t have the will to make changes will be sanctioned," he said. "The overwhelming principle has to be to get the athletes who are cheating out of the competition. If there is no real will to address the issues then they will be [banned]."

Other developments in the developing IAAF crisis Wednesday included a call by the European Athletics president to all its stakeholders to commit time and resources to developing proposals and initiatives to safeguard the integrity of the sport.

Svein Arne Hansen urged federations to further develop good governance structures, invest in new anti-doping education programs and push the IAAF and WADA to implement tougher penalties for doping offenses.

Hansen said European Athletics members should develop a national anti-doping system of assessment and monitoring, while he called for a review of European record, echoing efforts by UK Athletics to reassess world records and start a new ‘clean era".

Commenting on the first WADA report on systemic doping in Russia, he said: "The serious corruption allegations against some former IAAF officials and the other scandals that seem to surface on a daily basis.

"Although European Athletics has not been implicated in any way and these issues are not unique to athletics, the public image and reputation of our sport have been tarnished and this, of course, touches all of us.

"When the second WADA report is released, we will carefully study it and any recommendations it contains. If immediate comments are called for, we will make them. In light of the report, we will take our time to review the projects and proposals we have put forward and make any adjustments or additions required."

Hansen backed Coe to revive the battered fortunes of athletics, saying he had "full confidence" the IAAF chief was "the right man for the current challenges".

Reported by Mark Bisson

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