Since this morning Sebastian Coe, two times 1500m Olympic champion, at Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984, has become the new president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) located in Monaco. In truth, Coe’s mandate is starting on the next 31st of August and it will last for the following four years.
DETERMINED TIME – The 50th IAAF congress, besides the appointment of the president, also established the names of the vice-presidents and of the treasurer. For what concerns the formers, the ones who received the role have been Sergey Bubka (Ucr), who was challenging Coe for presidiency, Al Amad Dahlan (Qat), Malboum Kalkaba (Cam) and Alberto Juantorena (Cub); the appointed treasurer instead, was the Spaniard Jose Maria Odriozola. Eventually, the congress has also approved the proposal to limit to three the number of mandates for the IAAF presidency: therefore, Coe will be able to keep the role for the next 12 years at max.
DOPING – Several questions were asked to the new president ; among them, of course, some regarded doping. “We will apply measures leading to zero tolerance and I will swiftly talk to my colleagues about that” Coe stated, seemingly confident to be able to solve the unrestrained problem of the athletes’ use of doping substances. A “fight”, carried along with Bubka, which will hopefully lead to a wind of change and renovation for the entire international athletics: “I thank Bubka for this campaign which allowed our sport to relax and think on how to renovate itself.”
INTERNATIONAL ADVISOR NIKE – The presidency of IAAF will not be the only duty for the 58years old English ex-athlete, who is also Nike’s International Advisor. Despite this, Coe promised to pay huge attention and dedication for his new role at the top of the international federation: “In the past, I already had different roles at the same time and everything went smooth”. For what regards the possible conflict of interests between Nike (company for which Coe is Worldwide Advisor) and Adidas (a brand IAAF has a parnership with), Coe stated: “I have been with Nike since 1978, I am president of the British Olympic committee who has Adias as a sponsor and I was in the same situation during the Olympic games, but there was no conflict at all. Where is the problem?”.
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