IOC Seat Unlikely Soon for Sebastian Coe

(ATR) IAAF president Sebastian Coe says he’s content to be without a seat on the IOC for now.

Speaking at a joint press conference in London, IOC president Thomas Bach and Coe said the time was not right for the IOC appointment.

Bach said Coe was never rejected as a candidate to become an IOC member. "We decided together not to initiate the procedure," Bach said, "so there was not a 'no' to anything."

Bach said that he and Coe had a conversation when the subject of new members came up. "We came to the conclusion that now this may not be the right time in particular because Seb was also of the opinion that he would like to concentrate for a certain period of time on the implementation of wide-ranging reforms within the IAAF."

Coe nodded as Bach spoke. "I was very clear, as I was to the IAAF Congress yesterday, we’re halfway through the four-year process of change. There’s a mountain of stuff still my do. My focus at this moment is entirely on making sure that all of those things continue in that direction."

As one of the largest and most important Olympic federations, the IAAF president has traditionally held an IOC seat. But that ended when Coe predecessor Lamine Diack retired from the IOC in 2013 as he reached the age 80 limit. Diack remained IAAF president until 2015 when Coe was elected.

Coe noted that he represents athletics on the board of the Association of Summer Olympic International International Federations that allows him to help shape the direction of sport.

Coe also sits on the IOC coordination commission for Tokyo 2020 and said, "I’ll be keeping an eagle eye on our sport and its place in that great city."

Regardless of Coe, the IAAF is represented on the IOC. Sergey Bubka of Ukraine is senior vice president and Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco is a member of the IAAF Council.

A third IAAF Council member is also on the IOC, Frank Fredericks of Namibia. But he has self-suspended himself from both posts while he is under investigation in France in connection with the corruption allegations involving Lamine Diack. Fredericks is under suspicion over a $200,000 payment he received on the eve of the IOC vote in 2013 for the host of the 2020 Olympics won by Tokyo. Fredericks says the money was to fund youth sport in Namibia, not to buy his support for any Olympic bid.

So far the IOC Members Election Commission has not produced a list of nominees for new IOC members to be elected at the IOC Session in Lima next month. The chair is the Princess Royal, the senior IOC member in Great Britain. The commission sends its nominations to the IOC Executive Board for review.

Reported in London by Karen Rosen.

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