BEIJING (AP) – After months campaigning, Sebastian Coe and Sergei Bubka go to the polls Wednesday knowing that the new IAAF president will need to go straight to work to convince the public that track and field’s governing body can properly tackle the scourge of doping.
The election in Beijing in the days leading up to the world championships has been set against a backdrop of intense criticism of the IAAF following media reports that it has failed to act on evidence of widespread blood doping.
Coe has long campaigned for increasing the resources “in the battle for our sport’s integrity,” saying an external, fully independent anti-doping tribunal is a must.
“We also need to dramatically close the gap between a positive test and the relevant sanction,” the British running great said. “We must also invest significantly to ensure other ethical concerns such as gambling, and the complex issue of changes of nationality of athletes and age cheating are properly considered and resolved.”
Coe also has promised to give the newly created IAAF Ethics Commission all the tools necessary to make it the leading Olympic federation “in terms of integrity.”