In an effort to campaign for the IAAF presidency, IAAF Vice President Sebastian Coe gave an exclusive interview with iSportconnectTV discussing his plans for the position, his chances of winning, doping allegations in the sport, WADA sanctions, and IAAF presidency term limits. 

 

Coe announced in November 2014 that he would run for IAAF presidency to succeed Lamine Diack as the next head of the IAAF. Coe is a double Olympic gold and silver medalist, 11-time world record holder and 2012 London Olympic chairman. 

 

In the video, Coe discusses several issues surrounding the campaign including the track community’s response towards his decision to run for IAAF presidency.

“It’s a debate, the great thing about elections is it’s not just two or three people slugging it out to be president, actually the sport has an opportunity as you do in any election, to have a discussion and to have a debate and the federations deserve that, and that’s why I’m very pleased to travel as much as I am and to have the opportunity to sit down with quality time to discuss my approach,” Coe said. 

Coe published his manifesto for the election to the IAAF presidency on Dec. 3, 2014, where he highlighted four pillars: 

 

-Reforming the world athletics calendar and bringing in city centre “street athletics” competitions

-Maximizing commercial growth and focusing on youth engagement

-Increasing resources for anti-doping and creating a new IAAF ethics department

-Changes to the IAAF internal structure to give a greater voice for athletes. 

 

In the interview, Coe discusses the mounting trust issue with doping allegations that are affecting the sport, and the importance of setting higher standards.

 

“Trust sits at the heart of the knowledge that spectators are watching sport carried out to the highest level of integrity, and fair play is not just a concept on the field of play, it’s a concept rooted in the board room, on the ballot sheet. It’s important that the highest standards are set throughout the sport and that the tone and style is set by the leadership of the sport,” Coe said. 

 

“We need an independent system, we need to close the gap between positive test and sanction, I think that’s caused us damage in the past. I think it’s really important that you remove the burden from individual federations for much of the legal challenge that is now inherent in all this, and I think that you can close down potential loop holes and conflicts very quickly by having an independent system,” Coe said in regards to the new WADA code and push for harsher sanctions. 

 

Coe even touched on the importance of athlete marketability in the sport, pointing out the crucial role athlete personalities play in attracting audiences. With the recent news of Usain Bolt’s plan to retire after the 2017 World Championships, Coe foresees a plan to address the departure of the fastest man to hit the track.

 

“I’ve often been to events where Usain is competing, people are at the stadium, we have to address that, we have to re-double our efforts to remind our audiences that we are a broadly based church of a sport and that there are some extraordinary world class talents out there but they may not all just be 100m sprinters,” Coe said. 

 

In the interview, Coe finally addresses the issue of IAAF presidency term length, highlighting what he thinks is an appropriate amount of time needed for an IAAF president to make their mark on the sport. 

 

“I don’t think we should have an open-ended period [IAAF presidency term] and I do think an incoming president would clearly want to make a mark within the first four years, I think eight years is a perfectly reasonable period. If you can’t make your mark in eight years, you probably shouldn’t be doing it anyway.”

 

The deadline for candidates to register their standing for the presidency is May 2015 and the election will take place at the IAAF Congress in Beijing in August.