New IAAF president Sebastian Coe watches the action on the final day of the World Championships in Beijing yesterday. (Reuters)
Reuters/Beijing
Part of Sebastian Coe’s new job as head of world athletics will be to shift the conversation about his “ostensibly clean” sport from doping to spectacular performances, he said yesterday.
The Briton became president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) at the conclusion of the 15th World Championships on Sunday. The former Olympic champion takes over a sport that has endured a month of allegations that it is soft on doping after the leak of thousands of blood tests to media organisations.
Coe was asked whether he had sympathy for athletes like his compatriot Mo Farah, who won a second successive world distance double on Saturday, when people questioned how they were able to perform such gruelling feats.
“We have to be very careful here about making assumptions about quality and unpredictable performances which for the largest part are down to innate ability and hard work,” the former middle-distance world record holder told reporters.
“About 10 years of road mileage, thousands tonnes of steel energy and people who have given up large parts of their lives to help out,” he added.
“It is slightly the territory we have inherited and one of my responsibilities is to move us off that territory, we are more than just a discussion about test tubes, blood and urine.”
Coe again launched a defence of the IAAF, saying there was no doubt it had done everything in its power to root out drug cheats.
“It is ostensibly a clean sport and nobody would deny that, and it is a global challenge that every sport faces,” he said. “Can it be cleaner? I hope so. Are there things that we can do differently in the future, I dare say so. Can we do more? Most certainly but that’s the human condition.”
Moreover, Coe said, his plans to move towards an independent anti-doping agency for athletics were no reflection on the work currently being done.
“It is a recognition that reality and perception sometimes get confused and we need to make sure we do everything both in the integrity of our sport and with our processes and procedures to give maximum confidence,” he added.
“The clean athletes have to know that we are in their corner and words are simply not enough.”
Coe said another job for the IAAF was to bring more profile to other athletes in addition to superstar sprint champion Usain Bolt, who said this week that he might retire after next year’s Olympics in Brazil.
“We shouldn’t be concerned because we have a sport that is adorned by some of the most outrageously superhuman, talented individuals in any sport,” Coe said. “Our challenge is to make sure the public know that there are other athletes in our sport.”
One of those might be American Allyson Felix, who won the 400 metres title in Beijing but was unable to run in the 200 metres, an event in which she is the Olympic champion, because of a scheduling conflict. Under current plans, that issue will also exist at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next year. Coe said he would always want top athletes to be able to showcase their talents as well as possible at major championships.
“That is ideal but I am also aware that there are some technical issues which sometimes mean it is not possible,” the new IAAF president said. “Where it is possible, we should always look to try and help them.”
‘Bolt will leave behind ‘Ali-sized’ hole’
Usain Bolt has done for athletics what Mohamed Ali did for boxing, but the sport will survive when the sprint king eventually retires, according to new IAAF president Sebastian Coe.
The Jamaican superstar, who has captured a staggering 17 of the last 18 sprint gold medals at the Olympics and World Championships since 2008, has suggested he could hang up his spikes after next year’s Rio Games. Bolt’s retirement would leave a gaping void for the crisis-hit sport as it continues to fight accusations of widespread doping, but Coe expressed confidence in the next generation of track and field athletes.
“I do sort of feel that I’m in sort of 1960s, 1970s time warp,” Coe told a news conference on the final day of the World Championships in Beijing.
“It’s the kind of conversation that was probably taking place in boxing at that time as to what happens after Mohamed Ali retires. Well, after Ali, Marvin Hagler happens. After Ali, (Thomas) Hearns happens... Sugar Ray Leonard, (Floyd) Mayweather... It happens.”
However, Coe admitted that Bolt—who won yet another sprint treble in Beijing—would be a tough act to follow. “Yes, what we have to concede, and what I believe is that I don’t think any athlete, any sportsman or woman since Mohamed Ali has captured the public imagination and propelled their sport as quickly and as far as Usain Bolt has,” said the British former Olympic champion.
Bolt’s return from a pelvic problem to crush two-time doping offender Justin Gatlin came as a timely boost to under-fire athletics officials.
“The Usain Bolts of this world will not come along on a conveyor belt,” added Coe, hours before officially taking up his duties as the new head of the sport’s governing IAAF.
“We do need to make sure people understand we have extraordinary talent, which we’ve witnessed in Beijing.
“We shouldn’t be concerned because we have a sport that is adorned by some of the most outrageously superhuman, talented people in any sport. Our challenge is to make sure the public know there are other athletes in out sport.”
Coe also believes fellow Briton Mo Farah deserves to be regarded as one of the greatest athletes ever after his World Championships double. Farah became the first man to pull off a “triple-double” of distance titles at consecutive World Championships and the London Olympics after winning 5,000 and 10,000 metres gold in Beijing over the past week.
“It’s a wonderful debate to be having and I’m delighted to be not too British at these moments,” the newly elected IAAF president said.
“Mo is a wonderful, wonderful athlete, his progress through the ranks has been spectacular,” added Coe, who won 1,500 metres gold at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.
“If you look at the medals he’s won in major championships you would be hard pressed to say he wasn’t the most successful distance runner, in terms of medals.”
Ever the politician, Coe stopped short of calling Farah the best ever, smiling: “I’ll leave the greatest ever tag to other athletes.”
Striking a more serious note, Coe expressed sympathy with the plight of Somali-born Farah, whose Beijing preparations were disrupted by doping allegations made against his coach Alberto Salazar. “I’ve watched his progress from the junior ranks and actually awarded him medals when he was a junior athlete,” he said. “This is part of the challenge we have.”
