Coe in last push for IAAF presidency

Double Olympic champion Sebastian Coe reiterated his intention to support individual federations if elected IAAF president.

Beijing – British double Olympic champion Sebastian Coe reiterated his intention to support individual federations if elected IAAF president on Wednesday but made only a fleeting reference to the battle against doping.

“The member federations are the bedrock of our sport and the key policies that I will implement if elected aim to provide support that is better tailored to meet their specific needs and requirements at a local level,” he was quoted as saying on his campaign website.

Coe is currently in Beijing meeting athletics officials before the Congress on Wednesday which will elect either himself or former

Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka as president.

The Congress is being held shortly before the world championships open in the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing on Friday and they will do so with the sport in the shadow of various doping scandals.

Coe, 58, won 1 500 metres gold at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics and held the 800m world record for 16 years. He has since been chief organiser of the London 2012 Olympics and IAAF vice-president.

On Monday he pledged to provide an additional 100 000 dollars in funding to each federation over a four-year period, saying his

proposed ‘Olympic Athletics Dividend’ was “a great example of how we can work together as the Athletics family to invest in opportunities that fit with the priorities of member federations and help athletics grow globally.”

Coe’s online update included only a solitary line on the issue of doping where he promised to move “towards an external, fully

Independent Anti-doping Agency to deal with doping violations in international level athletics.” – ANA-dpa